Disturbing Details about Gaetz
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It's Thursday, November 21st, right now on CNN This Morning. Disturbing details new overnight. More on the sexual assault allegation against Donald Trump's choice to be defense secretary. And this. The VP-elect back on the Hill today. Can he convince senators to back Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks? And then. This is the worst I've seen it on this street. On this main drag.

A punishing northwest storm, roads turned into rivers, trees toppled over a foot of snow. For some places, the worst still to come. And later, another escalation. Ukraine says Russia launched a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at the U.S. Capitol on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. New this morning, we are learning more details about the sexual assault allegation that was made against Pete Hegseth, the man that Donald Trump wants to be the next Secretary of Defense.

CNN obtained the police report from 2017. It was made to Monterey Police in California. Hegseth wasn't criminally charged, but did later enter into a settlement agreement with his accuser. The accuser is identified as Jane Doe in the report, and she told police that she got into an argument with Hegseth following an afterparty at a Republican conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

She told officers that Hegseth took her phone from her hands. Then she said she tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body. She said that she remembered saying no a lot, but did not remember much else, according to the report.

Republican senators don't have to wait long to question Hegseth about this. He is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill today alongside VP-elect J.D. Vance. Vance has been stepping into the role of Sherpa, it's an unofficial term, for some of Trump's key cabinet choices, bringing them to talk with Republican Senate colleagues this week.

He also is bringing a message to senators thinking about rejecting Trump's nominees, posting on social media that the president-elect, quote, deserves a cabinet loyal to the agenda that he was elected to implement. On Wednesday, it was Matt Gaetz, Trump's choice for attorney general, who made his pitch to senators. Gaetz is facing his own sexual misconduct allegations. A House ethics report is going to stay behind closed doors for now.

You're doing great. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive and saying we're going to get a fair process. So it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Benz administration.

All right, our panel is here. Joining us now, Lulu Garcia Navarro, CNN contributor, New York Times journalist, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios, Maya Wiley, the president and CEO for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications. Mike Dubke, what is your actual, you were the former Trump White House communications director? Yes, I was. And so in that capacity, you lasted a little bit longer than some others who had the role, if I remember right. I did. But

But the communications challenges that anyone coming into that job are going to face based on what we saw on the Hill. Talk a little bit about what's going on in your understanding in Trump world about the defenses for these. I mean, you've got sexual assault allegations against Pete Hegseth. You've got sexual misconduct allegations against Gates.

It seems like they're all in on Gates, but the Hegseth situation may be something of a surprise. What's your read? Well, I think it's starting to bubble up a little bit. And then you've also got, with Tulsi Gabbard, you've got some other issues that are bubbling up. My read is that the...

Trump administration, or incoming Trump administration, is reading the polls from November 5th, which is basically that the president won because he was a disruptor and he wants to disrupt Washington. My deeper take on all of this is this is a very typical Trump negotiation tactic in which you put one person or one thing in your negotiating strategy

in a stance that is so far out that it makes everyone else run over to that side so that they don't necessarily pay attention to everybody else that's there. So I think all of this attention that we have on Gates right now is part of that. I don't fully expect Gates to make it all the way to the nomination.

I love the raised eyebrows that I bring at 6 a.m. in the morning. But I do think that what all of this that is happening right now is doing is helping the rest of the nominees get through the process. Now, whether or not there's something with Hegseth or Gabbard or others, we have to wait and see. But I think this is all part of a larger communications effort. Maya, you have your eyebrows raised as well. Well, I...

Look, we're talking about the cabinet for the United States of America and positions that are going to make significant decisions about the daily lives of people. And so...

notwithstanding whatever the strategy or tactics are here, I mean, I think the point is we're seeing a president-elect nominate people who typically would not get through a vetting process in many instances and make it to the nomination. And because of the pattern and the number of people that we're seeing who actually have allegations against them of sexual violence,

should actually make us a bit concerned with whether or not we're going to have a full vetting of all of the people who are coming through this process, no matter what part of the process. So, Alex Thompson, Mark Caputo over at The Bulwark is reporting this morning that, you know, in his round of meetings, Matt Gaetz's first round of meetings, he told senators,

that his priorities are not going to be to do some of the more controversial things that Donald Trump or other Republicans have potentially called for, suggested they might call for. He said, according to Caputo, "Look, I'm not going to go in there and indict Liz Cheney, have stormtroopers bust through the studio door at MSNBC, and arrest Anthony Fauci in my first week." Now, Caputo says in the last clause, "in my first week,"

sounded like an ominous disclaimer to some we of course have been reporting this out at cnn but what is your read on on that it shows that despite his firebrand status and basically saying that he was threatening to defund many of the agencies at doj behind closed doors of senators it's like

I'm, you know, that's sort of part of a performance act, right? And also it's contradicting what Trump has said on the campaign trail about going after his political enemies. But some of this is also, you know, this ethics report has become sort of a holy grail or an object of obsession. The thing is, senators are concerned about more, even privately, more than just this ethics report and this one incident. Matt Gaetz has a lot of, you know, potential flags in his oppo file. Lulu?

Yeah. I mean, so this theory of the case here, which is that, you know, they're branding themselves as the Avengers, right? They want to, it's like all these pop culture references, all these things. I mean, I've kind of thought of them as the pretenders, which is that these are not people who actually, you know,

Not only would they, if they got vetted, they wouldn't pass, but they also just don't have the experience necessary to run these massive agencies. And so when you hear Gates saying in private, don't worry, on week one, I'm not going to go. Yes, it is an ominous disclaimer, obviously, because what is week two, three, four? And if he lasts to month six, what is that all going to look like? And what we're seeing here is a Trump administration that is very, very,

like, not interested at all in competence, not interested at all in how efficient anyone's going to be, and very interested in the communication strategy, and very interested in getting people out in front. And in that sense, I do think Gates fits the bill, because I think, actually, I do think he's going to be, go through, and I think he's going to go through, because

It's going to force all the Republicans to bend the knee early, which is what he wants. And secondly, you know, at this point, Matt Gaetz is one of the most famous cabinet potential cabinet picks that he's got even more than Mehmet Oz. All right. We've got a lot to get to this morning. So coming up here on CNN this morning, Nikki Haley taking a stand. This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.

For Blunt Assessment, the president elects pick for director of national intelligence. Plus, potential first in Russia's war with Ukraine. It was an intercontinental ballistic missile just used in an attack. We'll dig in. And Democrats still reeling from their major loss this election season. The new chair of the New Democrats Coalition, Congressman Brad Schneider, joins us live.

We need to rebuild our party and we need to reconnect with hardworking people across our country to give them hope that tomorrow can be better for their kids than today.

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This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer. DNI has to analyze real threats. Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies?

Donald Trump's former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations slamming his pick for director of national intelligence, Nikki Haley, who of course took on Trump in the primary but then ultimately endorsed him, criticized Tulsi Gabbard for meeting with Syria's Bashar al-Assad and argued that Gabbard repeated rushing talking points.

Gabbard, a former Democrat, left the party in 2022, and she's since become a staunch supporter of Trump serving on his transition team. If confirmed by the Senate, Gabbard would become the head of the nation's intelligence agencies. Her confirmation, though, might be an uphill battle.

If we bring in somebody like this who smells to other intelligence agencies like someone who will compromise their sources and methods and be far too cozy with Russia and other adversaries, then they're going to hold back information that could be really critical to our success. This is a choice that actually puts Americans at risk because we won't have access to intelligence that could be critical to our safety. I think

Republicans will likely begin to come around.

So this is one of those picks, Alex, that has, you know, and Mike, you alluded to this, right? It's fallen kind of off out of the headlines in many ways because of the salacious things going on with other cabinet picks. But Tulsi Gabbard is someone who, and in fact, let me just play this. I talked to her back in 2019 about Bashar al-Assad and

And I asked her if she thinks that he was an enemy of the United States. Here's what she said. Take a look. Do you think Assad is our enemy? Assad is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States.

Now, of course, why that comment and framing is noteworthy, especially in this context, is because of the ties between Assad and the Russians and the realities of where we are now. Is there a world where there is a national security contingent in the Senate that starts to take this nomination more seriously?

Yes, because she is one of the greatest, biggest critics of the current, not just national security state, but sort of American foreign policy establishment that you've had in many, many decades for perhaps, you know, ever. Like the only thing I can even think close to is, you know, the 70s post-church committee stuff. And that's why you're going to see people like Mitch McConnell take a very, very close look at her record. But, you know, for Trump's base, you know, the fact that she's getting criticized by Nikki Haley is a feature, not a

bug. This is why people like Tucker Carlson and stuff have really gravitated towards Tulsi Gabbard because they see her as sort of a wrecking ball to what they see as a national security state off the rails. Yeah, well, in our reporting this morning, Mike, is that Tulsi Gabbard is at odds with the community she may soon be tasked with leading because of her distrust of broad government surveillance authorities and her support for those willing to expose some of the intelligence community's most

sensitive secrets. I mean, the stakes here are incredibly high. They are incredibly high. And to Alex's point, I think there's, you know, some of the things that we forget when we're talking about these individuals being nominated is that there's a difference between a messenger and a manager.

And I don't think that she's been nominated to be a manager of DNI. She's been nominated to be a messenger. That doesn't mean that she wouldn't have the power, right? Absolutely not. But we also forget that there are also a dozen other political nominees that will come in to each of these agencies to run it. But again, going back to the point for not a feature, not a bug.

she absolutely personifies a lot of what the Trump campaign was saying vis-a-vis the defense industry, but also the national intelligence. So I think a lot of these nominations, whether it be Gates at DOJ or Tulsi Gabbard, it's a way of the Trump administration is saying this time it's going to be different. Whether she makes it through, because there's a lot of hurdles for her to get through in the Senate, is another question. The one thing I will say is,

I absolutely agree because Donald Trump himself is the one who's been having phone calls with Vladimir Putin. I mean, so putting her there is not such a stretch. We're all talking about her as if she is in isolation. The fact that he is nominating her says a lot about Donald Trump's priorities and what he wants in that role. And that should be the concern. And it's not new. Donald Trump...

was president before and when he was he actually cited in one instance with Vladimir Putin over our own intelligence services not to mention the fact that he himself has endangered national security he is the president-elect he gets to pick but the pattern here is loyalists to Donald Trump and his agenda and we should be very concerned about that when we're talking about national security

All right, ahead here on CNN this morning, a dangerous storm system moving inland. Some places have yet to see the worst of it. Plus, what happens to the information the ethics panel collected about Matt Gaetz after they decided not to release the report? Former Congressman Charlie Dent, who chaired that committee, is here to discuss.

all right developing overnight another escalation in russia's war on ukraine russia has reportedly launched an intercontinental ballistic missile attack on ukraine according to ukraine's military we just got new video it appears to show the moment of impact from russian strikes on dnipro today cnn can't confirm what type of weapon we are seeing and hearing in this video cnn's international security correspondent nick pate and walsh is live for us in kiev nick what do we know at this hour

Yeah, look, it is still patchy, the information, but the central claim in all of this from the Ukrainian Air Force is that an intercontinental ballistic missile was used by the Russians to hit what you saw in that video there, which appears, according to much local reporting, to have been a huge mash industrial plant in the city of Dnipro, essentially part of the industrial infrastructure there. You can hear the gravity of the explosion and locals report hearing in a city where they're bombarded regularly

an abnormal sound. And the video, too, I think it's fair to say it looks different to many of the incoming strikes we've observed on CCTV. There seem to be multiple separate projectiles landing from possibly a similar point of origin. At this stage, we don't know what device was indeed used. And Ukrainian officials are working, it seems, at the site to establish

more details about that. A Western official speaking at the sidelines of a summit in Southeast Asia has said that they do not believe this was an intercontinental ballistic missile, but instead a ballistic missile. That may be a case of semantics and the range over which the device was indeed used rather than its capabilities. That will hopefully be elucidated. What we do know is that we are probably dealing here with a new type of Russian weapon. Certainly no comment from the Russians so far, but just to

Think back to yesterday, Casey. The U.S. Embassy closed very suddenly, citing very specific concerns about an air assault. I think it's fair to speculate that if Russia were to use a new type of weapon with potentially intercontinental capabilities, they might choose to warn other nuclear powers about that. Perhaps that was behind...

The US and other NATO allies closing their embassies briefly yesterday in Kiev. At 5 a.m., when that missile was launched, the sirens went on here briefly. Dnipro was the target. But I think what we're looking at here potentially, regardless of what type of weapon seems to have been used, is Russia attacking.

trying to alarm the Ukrainians, the Ukrainians being deeply concerned, and possibly now the introduction of a new capability from Russia, which may accompany, as it was in this instance, by other hypersonic and fast missiles, be able to get through Ukraine's air defenses. Casey? A remarkable sequence of events, of course, just a couple of short months before Donald Trump set to take office here in the United States. Nick Payton-Walsh in Kiev for us this morning. Nick, thank you very much.

All right, time now for weather. Some relief out in Washington state today as a major storm moves away from the northwest coast, but heavy rainfall not done yet in California. Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning.

Yeah, that's the nature of these bomb cyclones as they tap into a moisture feed from the Pacific Ocean. You'll be able to see it on the satellite in just one moment, but this is the result. So this heavy rainfall that is just blasted the northern and central portions of the state of California. You can see some of the

treacherous driving conditions that people are having to contend with. This is the direct moisture tropical connection. You can follow that all the way back towards the state of Hawaii. There it is all the way into northern California. We call this the Pineapple Express, and this just unleashes a torrent of rainfall. In fact, we've got a rare high risk

of excessive rain that could lead to flash flooding along the northern coastline of California. And you can see the radar very active there today. Another storm system will impact the western coastline and the Pacific Northwest with more wind, more mountain snow. And guess what? Speaking of snow, some of you get in your first flakes of the season. Chicago, you're included at the spine of the Appalachians, expecting one to two inches of snow, even higher elevations with more amounts. So enjoy.

All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. I appreciate it. Coming up after the break here on CNN this morning, the question that Democrats are asking, where do we go from here? Newly elected leader, the largest moderate Democratic caucus in the House, Congressman Brad Schneider here to discuss. Plus, from Bibles to watches and now guitars, Donald Trump always the businessman? That's the real deal. That's the real deal. This isn't just any watch. It's one of the best watches made.

Are you or are you not going to run in 2004? Are you going to run? Well, I've decided not to run. You've decided not to run? I've decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004. Throwback, that was Al Gore announcing he would not run for president again in 2004. Prior to Kamala Harris, Gore was the last sitting vice president to lose a general election.

Like Gore, Harris could remain a top leader in her party unless she makes a similar decision. But as Democrats search for a path forward in Republican-led Washington, new voices are already emerging. Take, for example, our next guest, who yesterday was elected leader of the largest moderate Democratic caucus in the House, chosen to lead at a time when some in the party are looking to the center for answers after Democrats' election losses.

If we're going to win more elections, we've got to appeal to voters in the center. We like when the center left and the center right work together. That's what we want. We can't be afraid to speak our minds because we're gonna get lambasted by the far left of our party. The road to a congressional majority runs through the center left, not the far left.

All right, joining us now, the newly elected chair of the New Dems Coalition, Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois. Congressman, thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Congratulations on your ascension to this post.

But what is your diagnosis for what went wrong for Democrats this election cycle? And what is the answer going forward? Well, I think a lot of things went wrong. At its core, the Democrats failed to connect with voters across the country to gain the support, certainly at the top of the ticket, where we had a heartbreaking defeat.

At the same time as there, on one level, a ebbing tide, on another level, and you mentioned the new Dems, which I was proud to be selected to lead in the next Congress, we had a tide coming in.

We were our 100 members in the current Congress. We were 42 members when I came here in 2013. And the new Congress will be 108, and there's two undecided races. We could be as many as 110 members in the 119th Congress. We are more than half of the Democratic caucus. So there was a shift towards the center, moderates. Now, I like to say moderates of style more than a position. We have a variety, a wide range of positions within our caucus.

But we are the ones who are willing to rope our sleeves, get things done, can communicate at our, in our home districts about growing our economy, meeting the needs of people that they talk about at their kitchen tables. And our candidates did well across the country. Do you think that Kamala Harris, the Vice President Harris, didn't do enough

to convince voters that she wasn't the progressive figure that she ran as when she ran for president in 2020 in the primary? Well, it's clear she didn't do enough because she didn't win the election, but I think the movement between July and what we saw in the election in November, still in the end, it was a very close election. I think the popular vote is gonna be roughly a 1% to 2% difference.

We need to do better. We need to convince more people that the Democrats are putting the economy first, addressing the needs that everyday families have, and we'll continue to do that. That's the message we need to take from this election, and that's the message we need to communicate back over the next two years. Some in your party have said that part of the problem was that many Democrats sounded like they came out of faculty lounges in the Ivy League instead of from, you know, factory floors down the street in their neighborhoods.

Do you agree with that? We have to be able to talk to everyone and meet people where they are. So my district on the northern suburbs of Chicago, I have the full diversity that we see across the country. So I have some of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation, but I also have communities that are really struggling. And we have people who work in the C-suites, and we have people who work on the factory floor. We have to be able to hear from all of these people, make sure they understand that not only are we listening to them, but we understand the challenges they face, and we have real workable solutions

that address the issues they care about most, not just talking about the things that are perhaps at the more esoteric ivory tower. The former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, still in Congress, has had some critical words for President Biden in the wake of these losses, saying he should have stepped out of the race earlier, among other things. Is there a level of frustration among House Democrats with the former House Speaker going forward?

Nancy Pelosi always says, "Our diversity is our strength. Our unity is our power." I think Hakeem Jeffries, succeeding Speaker of the Merit of Pelosi, showed that in the last... or in this Congress, how we have been the ones who, when the Republicans with a very narrow majority wanted to do anything that needed to get done, they had to turn to the Democrats, and the Democrats were always united. I think you'll continue to see that unity. You saw it in the reelection of the Democratic Party, which was a very, very important election.

Leader Jeffries, Whip Clark. So there's no discontent at all? There's a lot of discussion and there's a lot of opinions and we'll have very vibrant and sometimes heated conversations. But I think there's a unity that we need to move forward and do better at connecting with the American voters. I appreciate your diplomatic approach, sir. Congressman Brad Schneider, thank you very much for joining us today. I appreciate it.

All right, ahead here on CNN this morning, new overnight, the Department of Justice looking to break off part of Google. Why? The government wants the judge to force the sale of Chrome. That's next in our morning roundup. Plus, what does it take to disqualify someone in today's political climate when compared to the standards of the past? I will be recorded as the first cabinet nominee in the history of the republic, be rejected in the first 90 days of a presidency, and perhaps be harshly judged.

What I want to know is, what the hell is it that they don't want us to see? Because the stuff we already know is so terrible that if Gates ever moves to a new neighborhood, he's going to have to introduce himself door to door. Hi, I'm legally required to let you know that I'm the Attorney General.

The House Ethics Committee report into Matt Gaetz's alleged sexual misconduct is going to remain under wraps for now. The committee voting along party lines yesterday to block the release of the report. With the committee's next meeting not set until December 5th, the future of the report is uncertain. Some Democrats hoping to force it into the public eye with a vote on the House floor. And if that were to happen, the GOP could only afford to lose three votes already. One House Republican says he'd vote to make the report public.

I think it's very important that everybody has as much knowledge as possible so that they can make an informed decision. That sounds like a yes. That's a yes. This is not show friends, it's show business. And my personal feelings about Mr. Gates should have nothing to do with what's going on here in the country. And that's a big problem in our country is that people are allowing interpersonal conflicts to affect their ability to legislate.

Joining us now, former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. He served as chair of the House Ethics Committee from 2015 to 2017, which is, of course, the most thankless job in Washington, Congressman. Thank you for being here. Thank you, John Boehner. So talk to us a little bit about, like, they do, they have, the Ethics Committee has released these reports in the past after someone has left Congress. What do you think...

The dynamic is here. I mean, we're also seeing the members of the committee in a much more public way than we usually do. Seeing them on camera yesterday was really remarkable to me. Well, look, there is precedent for releasing reports after a member of Congress has departed. There was a case of a congressman, I think his name was Buzz Lukens, of Ohio in 1990. There are allegations of him having sex with a 16-year-old. He resigned. The report was released afterwards. There was another case.

around the same time in '87, a member... a report was released after... after he resigned because of bribery, misuse of campaign funds, that sort of thing. Mark Foley, you may remember that case. I did cover that case, yes. You remember that? After, you know, he sent inappropriate tweets to pages, the committee actually deposed sitting members of Congress after Foley resigned. Blake Farenthold, they released a statement after he resigned that was over sexual harassment in a settlement. So there's...

Nothing shocking here in terms of what the committee could do. So what's unusual about this whole thing is usually when a member of Congress resigns,

Due to scandal they go away quietly and they go about this Rebuilding their lives and their relationships and all that sort of thing They don't get elevated to the Attorney General the United States top law enforcement officer That's why this is so different and compelling plus you have a United States Senate sitting out there saying hey We have an official record we'd like to put together as part of this confirmation process And so we still have time by the way, you just saw a congressman Van Orden talking about

how they're going to go about, you know, releasing this report. Somebody's going to go to the House floor and move, you know, a privileged motion to have this thing released. Then there'll be a motion to table. And that'll be the procedural vote. But there are plenty of House Republicans who are going to want to vote for this. We all know that they have great disdain for Matt Gaetz. So I wouldn't be at all shocked if this is released one way or the other, either at the committee meeting on December 5th or a motion on the floor or a leak. Yeah. So, Congressman, you have

I mean, as the chair of ethics, right? You've seen a lot, right? You understand kind of the depths that people can go to. How would you kind of

stack what Matt Gaetz did as a sitting member of Congress. I mean, what these lawyers are alleging are that these two women, there's a lawyer that's been out there publicly for two women who spoke to the House Ethics Committee who say that there were sex parties over the course of a number of years while he was a sitting member of Congress that they were paid to attend. One of them says that she witnessed him having sex with her friend who was 17 years old at the time. What does, how does this

type of behavior fit into the pantheon of other bad behavior? I can assure you that that committee is composed of 10 members, evenly split Republican and Democrat. I am certain that they looked at this case, they reviewed it, they deposed all these various people, and I suspect that report is pretty nasty. And I suspect they all want, were going to vote for it prior to his resignation.

So I think there's a lot in there. I'm sure that the report recommends sanctions of some sort, reprimand, censure, expulsion in the worst cases. I thought it's moot now that he resigned. So that's what they're looking at. And they're also, by the way, if the committee uncovers potential criminal wrongdoing, they can refer the matter to the Justice Department. I was involved with a few of those cases.

That happens. I don't know what's in this report, but this is really messy. And Matt Gaetz did not resign because this report was going to be clean. So I suspect they did their job professionally and thoroughly, the committee, bipartisan basis. Now they're caught up over this issue of a post-resignation release. And that's unfortunate, but I do think they'll get to it. And by the way, I don't think Speaker Johnson did anybody any favors by running his mouth and saying this shouldn't go public.

You know, when I got appointed to this committee, the only thing John Boehner ever asked me to do was just make sure the committee functions. That's it. Speaker Ryan... You probably never wanted to hear from you, frankly. That's true. Same with Ryan and Pelosi. She was speaker, too, while I was on the committee. I never was involved with any of them ever trying to interfere with any type of an investigation or how we should go about it. All right. Former Congressman Charlie Dent, former chair of the Ethics Committee. Sir, always great to see you. Thank you for being here in these times that we live in now. Thank you.

Alright, it is 49 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. The House Speaker, Mike Johnson, announcing Wednesday the single sex bathrooms on Capitol Hill are reserved for quote, "individuals of that biological sex," end quote. This issue first raised earlier this week targeting Congress' first transgender member, Sarah McBride, who was elected earlier this month.

McBride wrote in a statement, "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms," going on to say, "I will follow the rules outlined by Speaker Johnson even if I disagree with them. It is unclear how this will be enforced." The Department of Justice wants Google to break up with Chrome. They are asking a judge to force the company to sell the browser in order to keep Google from shutting out other search engines. This summer, a judge ruling the tech giant holds a monopoly in the search market.

The Biden administration is racing to finalize a deal between seven Western states over the usage of the Colorado River. The deal would protect drinking water for tens of millions of Americans, but getting all seven states to agree before Donald Trump takes office could be an impossible task.

The Alec Baldwin film Rust held its world premiere in Poland three years after a cinematographer was accidentally killed on set. A moment of silence was held for Helena Hutchins. Baldwin not at the premiere. He was charged in the shooting, but the case was later dismissed.

All right, let's turn out of this. From a lack of experience in the core competencies to allegations of sexual misconduct, many of Donald Trump's picks for his next administration have come under intense scrutiny, as we have discussed today. He is, of course, still pressing forward. The scandals that plague Trump's picks for major cabinet positions make some offenses that were once considered disqualifying seem...

Frivolous? So what changed since accidentally failing to pay your taxes on a car or smoking marijuana in college was enough to tank

Your nomination. Our panel is back. We were just talking about this with the congressman, Lulu. I mean, like, when I think about the way that these scandals have, like, what used to constitute a scandal compared to what constitutes a scandal now, it just, it kind of blows your mind. So I actually think if you remember the scandal about Trump,

I mean, I hate to even use the word scandal because now it does seem sort of quaint. But when the illegal nanny sort of thing, remember that? I think that actually might sink a nominee now because of where the Republican Party places its emphasis, whereas actually sexual assault, credible sexual assault and rape allegations seem to be just fine.

i think this has got to do precisely with um where donald trump puts his emphasis i mean he is someone who has also been found liable for sexual assault and so that for him is not disqualifying whereas you know immigration is an issue where it is so it just goes to show you where you know someone like this puts the weight politicians may you know say their principle but

most of them just follow the voters. Donald Trump was able to overcome all of these things. Voters still elected him anyway. And that's why you're... Yes, twice. And that's why he's electing people with some of these same liabilities. Do you think the rules apply, Maya, to...

We have also found in politics that Donald Trump does seem to have a set of rules that apply only to him. There are others who have tried to do Trumpian-like things, and they have not been allowed to get away with them by voters, by others.

Do you think in this case, because Trump is so aggressively backing Matt Gaetz, for example, and part of this difference, it seems to me, may be MAGA and the peculiarities of how they think about things like this. Is that going to be enough to protect him, Donald Trump, or not? I just have to start with 26 women.

It was 26 women who lodged allegations about Donald Trump and sexual misconduct of some form or another. And I do think the fact that elections did not produce a consequence for that is a significant problem for society and for what we're now seeing in positions like Matt Gaetz's, where he would have legal responsibility

for sex trafficking. I mean, this is actually part of the job of being an attorney general. With a minor. With a minor. In other words, being accused and investigated for both ethics and criminally for the very things that the agency is responsible for. I think one of the things that is happening here, and to your point, is we've almost got to a place in society where

We're not actually talking about the reality of whether or not these things are real. It's like being able to appoint someone who does not agree with science to run a health agency that relies on science. And there's some of this, and I say this because I don't think we're acknowledging this enough. There are a lot of people out here anecdotally saying, oh, but he's not really going to do that.

Or, oh, that's not really going to happen. And I think what's going to start to happen here if we start and continue to see people who are not only unqualified, in some instances may work against the very responsibilities that they have. That's a question, but it's a possibility. When real people's lives are impacted, it is going to have consequences.

a change in some of the political conversations we have. - The only thing I might raise is that voters, I think in some cases, may have actually voted to dismantle some of these agencies. - But not dismantling protection. I don't think voters voted to dismantle protection. I think there is a constant, so there's a big difference between we don't trust government versus

what we feel about government when it doesn't protect us when it should or do its job, whether it's vaccines and public health

or the rule of law and whether we're protected from crime. Just quickly on this point, I don't think it's a trust issue. I think it's a broken issue. Government is broken. That is what millions of Americans were saying with the election of Donald Trump. And we need to do something about a broken system. That's what disruption's about. Now, whether or not these people are meteors that are going to break up agencies or just speed bumps that are going to slow down some of the things that agencies do, this system...

America does not have faith in its institutions the way that it used to. But that's why he's asking and putting in place people who are communicators. We are in a polluted information system. And many of the people that he is putting in place are part of the pollution of the information system. We're in a changing communication system. I wouldn't necessarily say polluted. Well, it is polluted because you are seeing people

taking information that is simply not true. We are not being given facts. People do not understand basic issues. And so when you have and you are putting people there that are saying things that are factually incorrect,

starting with that the election in 2020 was not stolen. And moving on from there, what he is putting in place there are people who have the biggest megaphones who will be able to amplify that even more. And so our already polluted information system is going to be even more polluted.

We were talking about quaint scandals from years ago. One of the reasons that the quaint scandals then became scandals that derailed nominations was because there for years were scandals were never covered. There was a collusion between the elected officials and the media about

about sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill, whatever. And then that situation changed. There's now a, now we have these other scandals that are coming out. It is a changing system. We are really for the last eight, 10 years,

We are going through a communications revolution that is, whether it is making people not trust government, think that it's broken, whatever the case may be, that is what we're trying to navigate through here. And that's probably part of the reason Donald Trump won. Can I just say one thing here?

We literally had a black Asian woman with significant, doesn't matter what you think of her political views or whether you want to vote for her, no question about her qualification for office, completely denigrated on qualification for office in this political debate despite that. And now we're watching all these cabinet nominees that literally in some instances, let's take literally Department of Education, where apparently the qualification is you went to school.

We are not having an actual conversation about what it means to have an effective working government. At the same time, we're seeing picks for key positions that are clearly, and Donald Trump has said this publicly, often about whether or not they will be loyal. That is not fixing government. That is breaking it.

All right. Obviously, a very charged conversation here. But so I do want to leave you with this today. President-elect Donald Trump may be busy picking his cabinet, but he still apparently has time for a side gig hawking merch.

You know what Trump's up to right now? He's selling guitars. That's right. A man who does not play the guitar is selling limited edition guitar. There he is, Skivy Ray Vaughan, with his, for only $10,000, you can own the world's ugliest autographed guitar. The guy who says we can't afford apples is selling $10,000 guitars.

Guitars, the latest venture in the long list of Trump-approved goods for just $10,000, as you heard there. An American flag guitar with his signature could be yours. This is just the latest in a long line of products that the president-elect has thrown his weight behind.

We are announcing the launch of Trump coins. They're called Trump digital trading cards. I've wanted to do this for a long time. I have some incredible people that work with me on things. My new Trump watches. That's a lot of diamonds. I love gold. I love diamonds. This Bible is the King James Version and also includes our founding father documents. Yes, the Constitution.

I seem to remember when I covered his announcement at Trump Tower that there was Trump, I remember being cologne at the time. - I think Trump water, Trump states. - Success by Donald Trump, if you really wanna know. - That was the name of the cologne? - That was the name of the cologne. Let's just be factual here. - Okay, I had forgotten that. - Somebody can fact check that on CNN, yes. - Thank you for restoring that fact to my brain, Mike. - Success. - Thanks to all of you for being here, I appreciate it. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt, don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now. - I run a school for young women.

We're not a threat to anyone. In the new HBO original series, Dune Prophecy, it is sisterhood above all. I'm Greta Johnson. And I'm Ahmed Ali Akbar. Join us on the official Dune Prophecy podcast, where we unpack each episode with the show's creators, cast, and crew. Stream Dune Prophecy Sundays starting November 17th exclusively on Max, and you can listen to new episodes of the podcast every Sunday night.