Waiting in the Wings
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It's Friday, November 22nd, right now on CNN This Morning. The prosecutors will be prosecuted. Waiting in the wings, Donald Trump taps his second attorney general pick after Matt Gaetz bows out. And this. Fire everybody involved and we need to overhaul DOJ and the FBI. Overhauling the FBI trumps plans to shake up that agency in his second term. And Vladimir Putin's message to the West, Russia launching a new missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons. And later.

Record rainfall, more to come, the punishing storm inching its way across the Northwest. 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, it is snowing in New York City. We just like skip fall entirely and go straight to winter. Totally wild. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

All right, let's meet the person that Donald Trump wants to be the next Attorney General, different than it was yesterday. Nope, not him. It's not Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz is out one week after resigning his seat in Congress to go after that role in Trump's cabinet. When he announced his withdrawal, Gaetz said his nomination became a, quote, needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, end quote. Is that what it was?

importantly, he didn't have the support of enough Republican senators to win confirmation. According to reporting in the New York Times, Gates concluded that at least four Republican senators were not going to support his nomination. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and the newly elected John Curtis of Utah.

It was made clear that there's not a path, and if there's not a path, you're going to spend a lot of political capital for a losing cause, and it wouldn't have been worth it. I know enough people that were a hell no in the conference to know that the path would have been very, very difficult, if possible, and I doubt it was.

Donald Trump wasted no time moving to his second choice for attorney general in the last eight days, going from a Florida man to a Florida woman, former Florida State Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi has become a Trump loyalist. It goes back to the first administration. She served as a lawyer and advisor for Trump during his impeachment. She also pushed Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

We are still on the ground in Pennsylvania. I'm here right now and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we won Pennsylvania. We know that ballots have been dumped. There were ballots that were found early on. We've heard that people were receiving ballots that were dead. You know, the thing that's happening

all over the country. - Were they legal ballot? - It is about the integrity of this election. And every vote, as Mayor Giuliani said, in every state must be counted fairly. We need to fix this, we need to remedy this now because we've won Pennsylvania and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way. - And here's what Bondi said about the department that she now hopes to lead just last August.

The prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated because the deep state last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows. But now they have a spotlight on them and they can all be investigated and the House needs to be cleaned out.

All right, our panel's here. Molly Ball, senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Dana Milbank, political columnist for The Washington Post. Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director. And Brad Todd, CNN political commentator, Republican strategist. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here. Brad, you know, I think you said it here first a couple of days ago that there was no way Matt Gaetz was going to go through. And clearly there were probably way more than just four people who were going to oppose this nomination.

8, 12, 14. I mean, I think he had a real problem. And it was obvious to everyone. And I think they knew that when they nominated Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz now hopes to get out of the ethics report coming out in the House. He gets to go home, having proven he's close to Donald Trump. Maybe now to run for governor of Florida. So in the end, everyone may get a consolation prize. You know, maybe like the price is right. You take something home. Pam Bondi, you know,

Molly Ball has been on the political scene. I first covered her when she flew around with Mitt Romney campaigning in Florida. I think those of us who, you know, we were texting each other about this development last night because not necessarily something that had been expected. But I mean, to Brad's point, she compared to Matt Gaetz, that comparison is, you know, they're worlds apart, even if there might be people who would raise questions about her nomination. Well,

Well, and although she has those, as you say, more establishment bona fides than a Matt Gaetz, she also is someone who has been a Trump loyalist, right? She was very early to endorse him in 2016 when a lot of people in Florida were on board with other candidates, when Trump was viewed much more skeptically. And she's been loyal to him throughout, you know, defending him in the impeachment, as you noted before. So I think she is viewed as someone who can sort of bridge

uh... the traditional republican establishment and sort of mag a world because she obviously has been very loyal to trump and uh... but she has more traditional experience so particularly compared to someone like mac gates who had barely practiced law the fact that she has actually been a state attorney general for two terms that she has done the more traditional you know has prosecutorial experience and that sort of thing i think it's gonna uh... really

really warm the hearts of a lot of Republican senators who were having so much heartburn over Matt Gaetz and who frankly didn't know where to start with him. Was it the lack of qualifications that was most disturbing? Was it the ethics stuff? Was it other stuff? Was it his conflicts with- By ethics stuff, you mean possibly having sex with a minor? All of that, yes. Possibly multiple occasions? Yeah. Dana?

Well, look, I don't want to attribute any strategy to the president-elect here, but it is kind of genius to put Matt Gaetz out there as sort of a stalking horse. And anybody you put up after that is going to look reasonable. So I think a little bit of that is what's happening here. I mean, overall, he set up, it's largely a vanity project, right? It's an administration full of loyalists.

It's a lot of Fox News contributors. So in a vacuum, I think we'd be saying, wow, I mean, none of these guys seem to have any particular relevant experience for the job. But, you know, I mean, as somebody who's worried about what the Trump administration may be doing, I'm saying, well, thank God for that, because there's not necessarily a whole lot of confidence. But he should get loyalists. Yeah.

He should, right? No president doesn't go for loyalists. Well, sure. You kind of segue into what I was going to say, which is, yes, she absolutely benefits from not being Matt Gaetz. I mean, you want to follow the person who went down in flames. You're going to benefit by comparison. But I don't think we should lose sight of the fact. I mean, she was an ardent 2020 election denier. I mean, there are still fundamental questions about whether somebody being appointed to run the Justice Department is

um should be somebody who's willing to just blatantly lie on behalf of the president and so you know yes obviously matt gates's um character flaw shall we say and complete lack of experience for the job makes her look better by comparison but she is still somebody who has been willing to

just lie when Trump asks her to. And that's, I think that should be of concern to people. Brad, I take your point about loyalty. I mean, every president, you know, wants to appoint and that's how it works, right? But is there a difference in your view between loyalty and fealty? And is there a difference on this specific job of attorney general where there is supposed to be some presumed

independence in terms of how the department works. Wait a minute, though. Pam Bondi's been the attorney general of one of the largest states in the country. And Florida's an active state in multi-state litigation. She has a long track record here. I'm not trying to raise a question about her experience. I'm asking the question about in this particular role and how loyalty does it

then go to fealty, and how does that play out? I think every Republican senator, all 53, expect the Attorney General to go to the Department of Justice and make heads roll. I mean, Republicans do not think this agency currently is functioning in a nonpartisan, neutral way, and justice must be neutral. So I think that absolutely Hobart-Pambani goes over there and does what Donald Trump wants, which is to clean house. So you expect she'll be confirmed? Yeah.

Yes, I do. All right. Coming up here on CNN This Morning, we touched on it a little bit, but we're going to have a longer conversation about what is next for Matt Gaetz. Is it another position in Trump's administration? Will he run for governor? Can he just go back to Congress? We'll discuss. Plus, a major upset. A three-term Democrat concedes his Senate race in Pennsylvania and the flood threat in California. Not over just yet. Saw the water rising a bit. Started to freak out, so we put some bags out just in time.

This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online, and more personal info in places that could expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, their U.S.-based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.

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I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump administration. Signed sincerely, Matt Gaetz, Member of Congress.

Well, that happened fast. Matt Gaetz quickly resigned from his House seat after President-elect Trump named him as his pick for AG. That is, he is not being considered for that anymore, and his future is now unclear. Axios reports, quote, Gaetz's potential path back to Congress is a legal gray area, according to government experts. While Politico reports that if Gaetz does want to return, the Hill seems prepared to punt that decision to DeSantis and Florida's Secretary of State, Cord Byrd.

And that House ethics report looking into Gates's alleged sexual misconduct, members are torn on the fate of that too. I think that this should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should continue to move forward in this matter. There's certainly precedent for releasing ethics committee reports after someone has retired from the Congress. There's even precedent for releasing it after someone has passed away. So,

Brad, you mentioned this at the top of the show. First of all, there is precedent for the Ethics Committee to release a report after members have left. They've done it before. They could do it again. But what do you think Gates' actual future is? Everyone was trying to read the tea leaves. This was Ginger Gates, who is Matt Gates' wife. She put up this saying, the end of an era, retweeting him, the speculation being that that meant that he's not going to come back to Congress. What are the options for Gates going forward?

Well, I think if he comes back to the Congress, the ethics charge will be renewed. And this time, fact-finding will not take too long, because the facts have already been found.

So I don't think he wants to do that. I think it's a sword of Damocles hanging over him. So I think he'll go back to Florida. There's an open governor seat coming. He's now got national name recognition. He's got a national email list to try to fundraise from. He's a power base. His dad's still in the state Senate. I think that's what you'll see him do. I think you'll see him go back to Florida, give speeches. Maybe he goes in the administration in some non-confirmable position to bide some time for a year, but I don't think he's coming back to Congress. Dana, do you think without the backing from, you know,

Republicans on the Ethics Committee basically listened to Trump and Speaker Johnson and said, "Okay, yeah, yeah, fine. We'll bury this report." Do you think in the absence of Trump pushing for him that they'll say, "Well, actually, maybe this should be, maybe we do not like Gates so much that this should be public." - I don't think I can think of any figure who's as unpopular within his own party on Capitol Hill as Matt Gates is. So it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them

put that sort of thing out. And I mean, I know technically, yeah, he could go back to Congress. I don't think that suits him. And man, there's 220 Republicans who really don't want to see that. So I think Brad's right. You know, he's already, you know, a year or two ago, he was talking about the governor's run. Yeah, and maybe he can have a little sinecure in the administration until then.

But if, can I just say also, if he goes and runs for governor, there will be opponents digging up Oppo, trying to get their hands on that report and putting it out there. I mean, just because he goes and runs for governor doesn't make him immune from the political ramifications of people who will be gunning to take him down in that race. And I would imagine that even if the report is not officially released,

it will make its way into the bloodstream if he's running for governor. Well, and Molly, this goes back to this question about, you know, Donald Trump has broken so many rules and maintained support from voters despite a whole range of conduct that in the past people would have assumed would be disqualifying. This does raise the question to me is do those rules still only apply to Donald Trump, right? Because here we have someone who has, you know, allegations that are obviously extraordinarily troubling.

And he seems to be paying a price for it in a way that perhaps Trump himself would not. Yeah, no, I think that's the only way that there might be a sort of downside for Gates out of this episode. I mean, for the most part, you know, people I've talked to say he can write his own ticket in MAGA world, right? He's shown himself to be extremely loyal to Trump. He's shown himself to be willing to, you know, put himself out there and, you know,

put himself up for for this position and take a lot of heat for it if he wanted a position in the administration it's likely he could find something as dana said he's been talking about running for governor for some time and has been expected to enter that field but it's likely to be a crowded field and i think to kate's point he's not going to be the only republican in that primary he has made a lot of enemies mostly in washington but some in florida as well

And because it's such a strong red state now, there's just a lot of Republicans and a lot of Trump-loving Republicans who see themselves as potential candidates for that office. So it's not going to be a clean shot for him in any way. And the fact

that this has all been now aired out in public, whether or not that report comes out, I think it just has made it a much bigger story than it might otherwise have been. Had this episode never happened, yeah, everyone would know, oh, he was investigated by the Ethics Committee or whatever. But I don't think there would be quite as much focus on it or as much public knowledge about what exactly he was charged with. You would have penetrated our consciousness, no pun intended.

Yikes. All right. Sorry. It's a family program. Coming up next on CNN This Morning, Donald Trump gearing up for his next fight. Michael Smirconish is here to discuss Trump's second administration and the team he's been assembling. Plus, a severe escalation. How will Ukraine respond after Russia tests out a new missile on the Eastern Front? We're live in Kyiv after the break. Welcome back. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky calling Russia's latest attack a severe escalation of war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the new non-nuclear missile targeted at the Dnipro region on Thursday came in response to Ukraine firing American missiles into Russia earlier this week. We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military objects of those countries that allowed their weapons to be used against our objects. And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as decisively and in kind.

All right, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Kyiv. Nick, the Ukrainian military claimed, had claimed earlier that the weapon used by the Russians was an ICBM. And of course, that raised serious alarm in the West. You're in the field. Explain what we're seeing and what's happening there.

Yeah, look, I mean, it's important not to get caught up on how you would classify a weapon that does appear to have not been used or seen by many Western officials until yesterday. What is clear at this point from the speech from the Kremlin head is that he called this the Oreshkin, sorry, the Oreshnik weapon.

the hazelnut and said this was a new non-nuclear hypersonic missile. Western officials have pointed out the fact that it's clear from the visuals you can see that this used multiple separate warheads that came from one particular missile, a MIRV, a Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle. You can see in the video the multiple different strikes that came from this one singular device. That sort of

mechanism is normally associated with the nuclear payload but wasn't used in this case and indeed the range over which it was fired would probably classify as a medium-range ballistic missile even though it's probably able to fly a further distance. What we've heard from Ukrainian defense officials today their intelligence calling this the Kedr missile and making a fairly similar conclusion

But I think the underlying message here was the Kremlin trying to show that they have new tools in their arsenal, tools that you might normally associate with nuclear payloads, and that they're able and willing to use them now in a conflict like this. And most importantly, the message from the Kremlin head, these can evade all Western air defences and, of course, air defences here in Ukraine as well. Hearing from the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, today, he has called this

A response to Western escalation that he called reckless escalation. Both sides accusing the outlaw of recklessness here. And now the use of an extraordinary new weapon, it seems, by the Kremlin trying to send a signal. Whether that's heard, whether that dampens tensions, highly unlikely. Casey? All right. Nick Payton Walsh for us live in Kiev. Nick, always grateful to have you. Thanks very much for being there.

all right time now for weather parts of california the pacific northwest facing potentially record-breaking rainfall and flooding whiteout conditions with nearly two feet of mountain snow also there let's get to our meteorologist our weatherman derek van dam derek it's back the polar bear this is the best friday video we have all day

What are you seeing? Yeah, who doesn't want to start their weekend off on this snow, right? A polar bear playing around in the first snow of the season. Chicagoites, they got to enjoy it today, yesterday as well. Three inches of snow for them at O'Hare. You have to go back to March of this year for their last measurable snowfall.

So it's been some time now. This is the storm system responsible for bringing the snowfall to parts of the Midwest. It's now bringing snow to the cast skills in the higher elevations of central Pennsylvania. But remember that little fire that we talked about in northern New Jersey, the Jennings Creek fire that sent smoke billowing into New York City unfortunately killed a firefighter as well. Well, there are elevations here that are reporting over a half a foot of snowfall. So Mother Nature doing its best to help

quell and extinguish that flame. 90% containment likely become completely contained by the weekend. This is the evolution of the storm system. It'll bring rainfall to the coastal areas of New England. Temperatures are actually going to warm up, so any snow that falls on the ground is going to melt by the end of the weekend. Hate to be the bearer of bad news. Here's the atmospheric river over the West Coast. Look at these rainfall totals into California, nearly a foot and a half.

And mama mia, Casey, we've got problems here. Vineyards in Sonoma County have been flooded by this rain. Oh, that's depressing. It is. I don't want to see my wine prices go up.

Bring back the polar bear. Yeah, how do I get to that? All right, well, I hope those, our thoughts with those farmers who vineyard, we're going to have a tough road ahead. Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. Have a good weekend. All right. All right, straight ahead here on CNN this morning. It's a case that dominated headlines in our morning roundup. Actor Jussie Smollett's guilty verdict in a hate crime hoax thrown out. Plus, Donald Trump's potential shakeup of the FBI. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building.

on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state.

I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service. It's hard not to feel like our phones might be listening to us. Researchers have actually studied this question. I called up David Chofnis, who is an associate professor of computer science at Northeastern University. David's done a ton of research into data privacy. So are they listening? As far as we know, we're not seeing it. Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.

This news story is that the ethics committee was told of a second sexual encounter with a woman who was just 17 years old. And instead of getting a response or a comment, just about a minute before we were about to go live on CNN, he notified the world that he is withdrawing from consideration as attorney general. Oh, my God. They asked him for a comment, and his comment was, I quit. This is...

This is like if the mystery gang showed up to a haunted amusement park and the first ghost they saw immediately ripped off his mask and said, "All right, fine, you got me. It's Matt Gaetz. Hey. And while I'm here, what's your deal, Daphne?"

Matt Gaetz bowing out of his confirmation fight for attorney general amid brand new CNN reporting about a second sexual encounter between Gaetz and a minor. Donald Trump calling Gaetz yesterday morning to tell him he didn't have the votes for Senate confirmation. Later, Trump tapped ally and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new choice to lead the DOJ on Capitol Hill. The reaction to the Gaetz news mixed. Holy s***.

I didn't see that coming. I mean, he seemed very optimistic yesterday. I think that this should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should continue to move forward in this matter. There's certainly precedent for releasing. I told my wife the other day, I said, I got so many skeletons in my closet that if they could vote, I could be king of the world.

Whether RFK Jr. or any of Donald Trump's other cabinet picks have skeletons in their closet or not, the president-elect does not seem to care. A number of Trump's selections so far are finding themselves at the center of various scandals, including allegations of sexual misconduct and enabling child abuse. Trump himself a convicted felon, seemingly unfazed by the controversies that just a decade ago would likely have sank many of these people in either party.

New details from the sexual assault allegation against Donald Trump's defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth. The article also reports on allegations that Robert Kennedy Jr. sexually assaulted a woman working as a babysitter for his family at the time. My client testified to the House that she witnessed Representative Gates having sex with her friend of mine. Representative Gates paid my client, both of my clients, for sexual favors.

A former SpaceX employee says that Elon Musk evaluated women based on their bra size. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, is being sued for allegedly enabling the sexual abuse of children.

It's a lot there. And it's Friday, which means it's time for Michael Smirconish, CNN political commentator and, of course, the host of CNN's Smirconish. Michael, wonderful to see you. You stack it all together that way. And it's really quite striking the scale of the challenges facing some of these nominees. And the president elect is does not seem to care about

any of it. What does this all say about our country and our culture and our tolerance for this kind of thing?

It's nice to be with you, Casey, although I thought I was booked to speak on the Froot Loops issue. I was here to make a case for Captain Crunch. Hand to God, that was my breakfast cereal this morning. On more serious matters, on more serious matters. The president-elect just received 17 days of cover by Matt Gaetz because that's the number of days I think that have elapsed since the election and for most of that time,

We've spoken about Matt Gaetz, and any minute that we've spoken about Matt Gaetz is a minute not having spoken about Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Kristi Noem. They're the ones with angst today, because if I'm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Pete Hegseth in particular, I'm saying, oh my God, now the media is going to have more time to focus on all of us. Surely Donald Trump knew that this was going to be a very difficult pick to get through. There was some utility in it.

for Gates because arguably he was able to therefore get out of the House. Did you notice that nobody else who's been nominated has resigned from the House? But he did. Why? Because he thought he could thwart the release of that ethics committee report. So I think there's more going on here than meets the eye and that it's not total loss for the incoming Trump administration. And the question is, how much bandwidth does the Senate now have to oppose any of the other nominees?

Yeah. From that perspective, Michael, I mean, who do you think is next in line in terms of people being willing to because this has been the question I've had all the way along. Right. It's going to cost political capital for Senate Republicans to oppose Trump's picks in this kind of world where the MAGA base exists.

demands so much. And many of these senators are up for reelection, right? They may face primaries, but then they'll also face general elections. Who do you think is next up in terms of people who, you know, it may be controversial or difficult for someone like Susan Collins to vote for Pete Hexeth considering the allegations. But where do you think the line is drawn next?

If I had to rank them in terms of potential peril, Hegseth would be at the top of the list, followed by Tulsi Gabbard. Bobby Kennedy would come in third and Kristi Noem would come in fourth. And I'm not saying that any of them are going to suffer a defeat a la Matt Gaetz. But in terms of the risk level, that's how I see it. And Hegseth is at the top. And what remains to be seen is whether we ever meet the accuser in that case. People I talked about the

this extensively on radio yesterday and went through all the coverage in terms of what was in that Monterey document release, the 22 pages. I can tell you that callers saw in it what they wanted to see in it. It's a he said, she said, as we know it now. And some were just inclined to take his side and some were inclined to take her side. What would break that maybe is if she came forth and we got a look at her and judged her credibility.

Yeah, I mean, always a difficult, difficult reality for anyone in that kind of a situation. Michael, briefly, you mentioned Tulsi Gabbard, the issue with her in your view. And actually, the person I'm watching on that one is Mitch McConnell. Well, I mean, some of the statements that she's made in the past, I don't just accept, you know, the talking point that she's made.

a Russian agent and is here to do Putin's bidding and so forth. But nevertheless, there are a number of things that she has said in the past that I think are are ripe fodder for a confirmation hearing and how far they want to go in the questioning with she and the others and

At the risk of antagonizing, you know, the incoming president. I mean, that's that's the issue. I should say one other thing, which is that he was elected. He was elected to be a disruptive force. That was the appeal for many who voted for Donald Trump. And so by definition, you're not going to get conventional characters. You're not going to get a Rex Tillerson.

in this go-round, given the platform on which Donald Trump was elected. Yeah, for sure. All right, Michael Smirconish for us, sir. Always grateful to see you. Have a wonderful weekend. And of course, everyone watching, remember, tune in to Smirconish tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right, it's 53 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Actor Jussie Smollett's conviction for staging a hate crime hoax has been overturned. The Illinois Supreme Court stating the case should never have been prosecuted. In 2019, the Empire star made a deal with the state's attorney who then dropped the charges. But then a special prosecutor was brought in. He was charged again and then convicted. That conviction now thrown out. Smollett maintains his innocence.

The death toll rising after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos. An Australian teenager, now the sixth foreign tourist to die. One American has also died. Authorities believe that they were killed by drinking tainted alcohol.

Democratic incumbent Senator Bob Casey has conceded the Pennsylvania Senate race to Republican challenger Dave McCormick. Casey lost his seat by less than a quarter of a point in an incredibly tight race that did go to a recount. Republicans will now have a 53-47 seat majority in the next Congress.

Two of the world's richest men publicly squabbling on social media over Donald Trump. Elon Musk tweeted, "Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that Trump would lose, for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock." Bezos responded, "Nope, 100% not true." Musk's own company, X, put a content warning on it, a community note clarifying the statement.

Molly Ball, this Jeff Bezos versus Elon Musk, especially on the space question, it's like these two billionaires fighting with each other in public?

Like, what? Well, they all just want to go to space, right? They're all building their big toys, their rockets, and, you know, going after each other on social media. I think Elon and his persona has really showed these other billionaires how out there they can be. They can be out there in public. They can be, you know, taking shots at each other and saying what they feel like on social media. They don't have to be sort of up there in their little towers where they never talk to us. Right.

I guess not, because we're all going to benefit from this new reality. All right, let's turn out of this. A nostalgic serial. It's now at the center of a political fight.

That's right, Froot Loops. The Wall Street Journal reporting that the company that makes the colorful cereal has, quote, been under fire for months over its use of artificial food dyes. Now one of the company's highest profile critics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been tapped to become the country's top health official and has vowed to target artificial dyes in cereal that he says contribute to widespread health problems, particularly in children.

Kennedy calling out the manufacturer earlier this month. There are entire departments like the nutrition departments at FDA that have to go, that are not doing their job. They're not protecting our kids. Why do we have Froot Loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients and you go to Canada and it's got two or three?

All right, our panel is back. Anyone a Fruit Loops fan? Did you grow up on Fruit Loops? Of course. All the Kellogg cereal. You know, sugar smacks and all that. I mean, look, Kennedy's not wrong about this. This journal story, I don't know if we have it produced, but when you look at the difference between American Fruit Loops and right here, the Blue Bowl, and then the Canadian ones are right here. I mean, it's obvious that we put a lot more

I mean, R.K. Jr. probably calls it crap in the cereal. The company says, well, no, that's not the case. But, I mean, Dana, like, maybe there's a point? I mean, it'd be obvious we'd all be healthier if we had Cocoa Krispies instead of Fruit Loops. But, you know, look.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., let's remember, he is or at least was a creature of the left. There's a lot of stuff on his agenda, whether it's taking on big pharma or healthier food that a lot of people can support. Now, you know, there's the other question of, you know, are we going to have some deadly bird flu outbreak and he's not going to let us have a vaccine? Well, that's a different matter. But he's a very complex character. So I think there's a lot of things, a lot of people in MAGA world are not going to be at all pleased with his agenda.

It's a complicated nomination. I don't know that we've ever had a nominee for a cabinet that's this polarizing and not in a hot way, right? I mean, like, either Robert Kennedy is a Froot Loop or he's going to fix Froot Loops. You know what I mean? Or both. You've been waiting all show to deliver that line of life. That's the question that we'll answer in the hearings, you know? So, I don't know. Look, you know, as a mother of small children, I mean, this is an appealing...

I mean, yes, there are too many chemicals in our food. There's too much sugar in our food. So this is a space where he's going to be able to rally the left. He's going to be able to rally moderates. This is he can build a coalition of moms. I mean, it is a complicated nomination because that is an incredibly, I think, will be a very effective line of argument for him. But you counterbalancing that with somebody who has said that decades and decades of medical science behind vaccines is not effective.

accurate, is not right, is not true, that weighs heavy on moms too. So how you- It's like, are you going to fix the food? But then is my kid going to go to school? And are their schoolmates going to have the measles vaccine? Right, right, right. And I think there are probably plenty of qualified nominees who could run HHS who would take on the fight about our overproduced food without also bringing along this baggage of suggesting that vaccines that work don't work.

It's possible he ends up in some role that lets him fix Froot Loops, but not lets him be in charge of measles vaccines. Also true. Well, and the other question, too, is, you know, Republicans have not traditionally been the party that wants more government regulation on ingredients in food. And so when he comes before the Senate and he is saying...

you can't have basically food coloring, even if there's no evidence that it's harmful in any way. And we're gonna put all these additional regulations on what exactly ingredients companies can use, what the government considers healthy, what the thresholds are for that. I don't know how many conservatives are gonna be on board with a really aggressive regulatory agenda when it comes to the food industry or any other. - Yeah, I mean, we could dig up the tape of when Michelle Obama was talking about

children's lunches and the what the things that were said on places like fox news about it uh really contradicts especially in an environment where everybody's worried about cost of groceries and companies are going to argue well it's only going to make it more expensive and it's going to be hard to hold that coalition together for sure for sure all right guys thank you for spending your friday with us i appreciate it thanks to all of you for joining us as well have a wonderful weekend i'm casey hunt don't go anywhere cnn news central starts right now i run a school for young women

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