Disbelief in DC
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It's Thursday, November 14th, right now on CNN This Morning. This is going to be a red alert moment for American democracy. Disbelief in Washington. Donald Trump taps Congressman Matt Gaetz to lead the Justice Department. And... I was grateful and honored to accept President Trump's offer to serve our country. A spy stunner. Democrat-turned-MAGA Tulsi Gabbard chosen for the top intelligence spot. And...

This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority. A new era on the Hill. GOP senators elect John Thune to lead them, confirming Trump's cabinet job number one. And then... Donald, congratulations. I appreciate it very much. A transition that's so smooth. Trump and Biden face to face. The president welcomes the president-elect back to the White House, a courtesy Trump didn't extend to Biden four years ago.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at the United States Capitol, which is going to be the epicenter of so much of the action here in Washington, in Trump's Washington. Once again, good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Thursday morning.

Once facing possible prosecution for sex trafficking by the Department of Justice, now tapped as the country's top prosecutor. Donald Trump's selection of Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General sent shockwaves through Washington and the country yesterday. Gaetz has earned notoriety for a variety of political stunts over the years. Here he was on Capitol Hill sporting a gas mask during the COVID pandemic. But it's been his sexual, not political, exploits that have landed him in trouble in recent years.

He was accused of sleeping with an underage girl. There's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him, because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the house floor that all of us had walked away of the girls that he had slept with. He'd brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.

That was Senator Mark Wayne Mullen last year. The Department of Justice ultimately declined to press charges against Gaetz, but the House ethics probe into his conduct has been continuing. A report had been expected as soon as tomorrow, that is, until that ethics committee lost jurisdiction over Gaetz when he resigned from the House yesterday, effective immediately. Here was that same Senator Mullen yesterday.

You know, Matt Gaetz and I, there's no question that we've had our differences. They've been very public about it. I completely trust President Trump's decision-making on this one. But at the same time, he's got to come to Congress and sell himself. There's a lot of—or to the Senate and sell himself. There's a lot of questions that are going to be out there. He's got to answer those questions. And hopefully he's able to answer the questions right. And if he can, then we'll go through the confirmation process.

So what about that confirmation process? My colleague Manu Raju was all over that question on the Hill yesterday. You may recall scenes like the one that played out on the Hill yesterday during the last Trump administration. This all feels very familiar to me. I'm having trouble. What about Matt Gaetz? He's a bottom.

Do you have a confirmation process? I don't know yet. I think about that one. Do you have any concerns about it? We'll see. Do you think Matt Gaetz is confirmable? We'll find out. Senator Kennedy, what do you think of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Joining us now, Jeff Zeleny, CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent. Ellie Honig, CNN Senior Legal Analyst. Megan Hayes, former Biden White House Director of Message Planning. And Scott Jennings, CNN News.

Senior political commentator, welcome to all of you who would like to go first. It's too early for Thanksgiving. Next week. Next week we'll do that. Look, Scott Jennings, is this guy possibly confirmable by the United States Senate after everything that has happened? You're the only person that works for this network that calls on me first. Everybody else lets me go. Don't take it. Well, you know these guys. That's why I would ask you. I'll handicap it for you. I think of everything Trump has done

He's the one who I believe actually starts below the bar of confirmation. I mean, we could probably all count at least four senators, maybe five, who are highly likely to never go along with this.

Gabbard, I think, actually has a fighting chance. I think it's tough. I think the confirmation hearings will be interesting. She said some things about Trump's foreign policy that were at odds with him. She called the Soleimani killing unconstitutional and illegal at one point. And I think Hexeth actually has a really good chance to be confirmed as sect-deaf. But Gates right now is below the line. And so then that raises the question whether this sets up a whole showdown with his own party, Trump's own party, over recess appointments.

and how you actually get the Senate into recess long enough to make a recess appointment. To me, it's signal- Democrats have something to say about that too, right? Yes. They have some tools at their disposal. Yes. So that'll be an interesting showdown. To me, this just signals one thing. Donald Trump is feeling his oats. He doesn't feel like he has to negotiate with anybody over these cabinet picks. He's fully confident in what he is doing, and he meant everything he said

about not just shaking up Washington, but blowing up Washington, D.C. I think he feels like he was elected to do things like this. Like, if the Washington people are happy with me, that's wrong, and if they're unhappy with me, I must be doing something right. So, to me, the Gaetz nomination tells us something bigger about what Donald Trump's planning to do. I mean, let's start from this premise. Tell me if anyone disagrees. Matt Gaetz is woefully unqualified to be Attorney General of the United States. Everyone? Anyone? Scott? Agree?

I'm the objective reporter at the table. Go ahead, Chancellor. He's barely practiced law for a couple of years. He's never been a prosecutor for one day. I understand, but the political question is if the president nominates you and the Senate confirms you, you're qualified. So, I mean, I get your point on the professional qualifications, but, you know, a lot of people wind up with jobs in government that some of us go, ooh.

- To be sure, elections have consequences. You win, you get to try to select your person, but just on paper, prosecutorily, not qualified. So then why? Why are we nominating somebody who's not qualified? I think we saw a clip, you played a clip earlier, Casey, of him saying, "I'm gonna blow it all up. "I'm gonna get rid of the DEA." He doesn't even know what that means, "Get rid of the DEA." Do we care about enforcing drug laws at the border?

He's over his head. And why would Trump choose somebody who's over his head? I think it goes... He's qualified in one respect, being loyal to the president. You got it. And that is the first qualification in this new administration. So he meets that. Yes. It's the only one that matters. It's the only one that matters. Like, let's be clear. Nothing else matters except his loyalty and the willingness to do whatever Donald Trump says. I pulled up Gates' bio, his congressional bio. And all it is is...

willing to tack dog, and he quotes, he's proud, the Trumpiest member of Congress. That's all that's in it. That's the gist of it. I mean, and look, just to be clear here, from the perspective of what the previous standards would be for qualification for this job, there is...

No Washington other than a Trump-based Washington where I could see anyone with this level of qualifications getting nominated for this type of post, for sure. This will be the first test for Senate Republicans. Chuck Grassley is likely to head the Judiciary Committee. Obviously, Lindsey Graham will have a lot to say about it. But this will be a test for some Senate Republicans. Yes, they are, I think, recognizing the new Trump mandate, but that does not mean that

that many of them are going to lie over. So I think, Scott, you're right. I would say at least five, maybe more than that. But let's see. Trump could win either way here. I mean, this fight could help other nominees get through the process. I mean, like, while everyone is focused on Matt Gaetz, what is happening with some other members? So we shall see. But I think that this is something that Matt Gaetz is unique

in the sense that he inspires ire from both sides of the aisle. And some House Republicans are going to be talking with their colleagues in the upper chamber here, and I would just be stunned if he gets through. But that doesn't mean that Trump doesn't win by the outrage. I mean, Scott, can you name anyone on Capitol Hill who likes Matt Gaetz besides Matt Gaetz? I mean, I'm sure there are some people. He's probably left good tips at waiters at various restaurants around Capitol Hill. I don't know. I mean, it is a...

This is an interesting choice because it is, to me, it is just Donald Trump testing exactly how powerful he is. Look, second term presidents, which he now is, I mean, we went through this with Bush a little bit. You know, we ran into turbulence with some things we tried to do early in the second term after winning the national popular vote, and it did not work out. And sometimes second term presidents do feel like

a little bit more powerful than maybe they are. The Senate is just harder to control, particularly when you've got so many senators that probably don't have any strings on them from Trump the way you would in the House. Well, just on that, these senators have to look to the midterms and have to look to their own political...

Some of these people probably won't run for president in 2028, so he doesn't have as much political capital as he probably did in the first term because this is his second term. So some of these senators might not go along with his confirmations just because of their own political... It's a much trumpier Senate, though, and really across the board. This will be a test for John Thune without a doubt, sort of how he... So he's going to let the process work...

My guess is that the FBI background check on Tulsi Gabbard will be very interesting. But I think you're right. I mean, her standing probably improves a bit because of Matt Gaetz. How do you get in this question for you, how do you get the Senate into recess for more than three days? Oh, my goodness. I mean, there's long been constitutional questions about whether the president can actually figure out a way to engineer a recess.

and that would really be pushing the limits because there is a constitutional provision about the president being able to convene. And this came up in the Obama administration. They extended that and they said basically 10 days are required. So all I can tell you is this. I was trying to figure out what the heck a recess appointment is yesterday in the green room and Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, who we just saw, was in the green room and he said, I'm a U.S. Senator, let me explain to you. I was going to say, you could have called me. That's actually true.

And the bottom line is, it sounds like from him, for the Republican, he thinks there's no possible feasible way that it happens. I do want to look at history a little bit just to put Matt Gaetz's nomination perspective. Did you work for the Bush W administration? Yes, of course. Extensively, yes. So you were AGs who I served under all of them. Scott Jennings. I don't know you back there. I just know you're the guy who causes trouble here.

We'll get you guys to know. The AGs who George W. Bush nominated were John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez, and Michael Mukasey, all of whom were vastly qualified and...

Rock solid AGs. None of them was perfect. No AG is perfect. But I served under all three of them. Those are traditional attorney general picks. They all had been former prosecutors or judges or served in meaningful roles in the Congress. I mean, compare any of the three of them to Matt Gaetz and it's not even close. And they were in...

Ashcroft in particular had his own deep controversies, but they were the ones that in Washington typically were within the guardrails. This is not the second Bush administration. This is the second Trump administration. So everything is different. I covered both of them. That's where I met Scott way back in the day in the West Wing. So yes, this is different. He invested in me. I really did have a job before I came over. I don't just exist to be an equitable punching bag. I actually have a whole career.

can vouch for all that all right straight ahead here on cnn this morning we are going to talk more about matt dates who has abruptly resigned from congress how that lets him sidestep the release of that ethics report that we mentioned plus incoming and outgoing presidents joe biden and donald trump meet for nearly two hours in a surprisingly cordial meeting and john thune will soon step into mitch mcconnell's shoes as the new republican senate leader

As we've just been discussing, he has got his work cut out for him. Well, what we're going to do is make sure that we are processing his nominees in a way that gets them into those positions so they can implement his agenda. We expect a level of cooperation from the Democrats to work with us to get these folks installed.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. There are nearly 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease. Any progress in the field has seemed incremental at best. But in the process of filming a recent documentary called The Last Alzheimer's Patient, I saw some incredible signs of hope. It wasn't always about new expensive or experimental drugs, but lifestyle changes instead. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

I mean, and if you think about it, if there's anybody who should go to trial, I mean, Gates is one who should be convicted in a trial. Why? Why do you say that? Well, we all know the challenge here. You can't sleep with underage women and think you can get away with it. He denies that. Well, the women don't. And so there's people in jail because of it. And I think that's a place where people should have a court. I just don't think that as an individual should be represented in Congress.

So that was a several months old interview with Manu Raju and Kevin McCarthy. This week, though, was supposed to be the week the House Ethics Committee voted on releasing its report on Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Gaetz has been investigated for the alleged sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

But now that he's resigned from Congress after being tapped by Trump to head the Justice Department, the investigation is effectively over and it's not clear whether the report will ever be made public. Of course, as we've been discussing this morning, one thing is clear, many Republicans do seem to have reservations about this pick. I don't know yet. I'll think about that. Do you have any concerns about it? We'll see. Sure is going to be an interesting confirmation hearing, as I think most members' predictions are.

But do you think he's the inappropriate pick? He was not in anybody's top five, ten or even fifty list of the folks who I was speaking to. Because, you know, he's under investigation by House Ethics. Is it appropriate to name someone for the Attorney General job who was under investigation? I think a lot of people are eager to see the results of that investigation.

Okay, our panel is back. Scott, you raised this in terms of why, I mean, Gates resigned effective immediately. The House Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction, which is an effect of that resignation. But there are these questions about whether he might come back

in the next Congress because he's been elected to the next. How do you understand what is really going on here? Well, I was wondering last night. I mean, he resigned from this Congress, but he just got elected to the next one. And he's not been sworn in, obviously. It wouldn't be until January. So I actually wonder what his future status is. I know what his current status is, which is he's not a member of the House, but he...

I mean, technically, I guess, could show up in January if he felt like it and get sworn in again. I also wonder whether just because he resigned, can the Ethics Committee choose to release the report anyway? I know they lose jurisdiction over him, but if they have a piece of paper, can they put, I don't know the answer to that. - So I think on the first question, I actually think that's a really interesting point. And my instinct is he probably could make an argument that I've been elected to the next Congress and therefore I'm back.

As to the point about the ethics investigation, first of all, can the House, obviously they can leak it, we all know that, but putting that aside, can they vote to release it? I think the answer is yes. I mean, they can do essentially what they want. There was an incident a couple of years ago where a House committee released Donald Trump's tax returns

And I was critical of the House Committee because they essentially ad libbed that rule. They said, well, we want to release it. Let's take a vote. And they very solemnly released the tax returns, which I thought was a convenient one-off. So, yeah, they can release it. But here's the thing that I don't get.

If the idea is, well, let's nominate Gates, we'll strip the House of jurisdiction, and so this report can't come out. If he's up for AG, all of that's going to be in play. I mean, when I was a lowly, you know, regular DOJ prosecutor, they talked to my parents' neighbors about whether I ever smoked weed. I mean, they're going to get into the weeds, no pun intended, of

Matt Gaetz and those allegations against him relating to underage women. Let's not miss the forest here. The big picture is Donald Trump wants Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general for the loyalty thing and to do whatever he wants at DOJ. This was not a move to protect Matt Gaetz. It was to protect and assist the president. So yes, the committee, I believe, can vote. It's 50-50, Democrats and Republicans. I would be stunned if it would vote to release

the report because that would be a bit of a finger in the eye to the president-elect. I would also be stunned if Matt Gaetz came back in January because that wouldn't help him in his confirmation process, probably. But who knows? We're all sort of stunned by a lot of things. But I think that for all this discussion about Matt Gaetz and protecting him, this is about the loyalty to the president. So I would be surprised if we saw that Friday.

Ellie Honig, very grateful to have you on the show this morning. John Thune, who I haven't seen a lot of. I mean, he's Zell and he's big brother.

I mean, my neighbor to the north in South Dakota. I was going to say, both staunch Midwesterners. Yeah. They put him up there. I said, look at this guy. I mean, it's a, you know, it's not the worst. I'll take it. Ellie, thank you. I appreciate it. All right, ahead here on CNN this morning, a new Senate majority leader, as we were just discussing, John Thune, who Ellie seems to think looks like Jeff Zeleny, overcomes a MAGA pressure campaign to boost Rick Scott, his first order of business, already pretty tough. Plus,

A very civil sit down between two men who don't really like each other very much. All right, welcome back. It's November, but we've got a new storm strengthening over the Caribbean. Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning. What are you seeing? Good morning, Casey. So we've been monitoring the storm very closely. And unfortunately, what is good for U.S. interests in this particular instance is bad for other interests, namely Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. So yesterday we talked about

how if this storm moved over that part of the world before entering the Gulf of Mexico, it would disorganize the storm and mean a weaker storm for the southeastern U. S. And that's in fact what we're seeing this morning is a little bit further west than what we had originally forecast yesterday. But this is bringing extremely heavy rainfall to this area. Flash floods and mudslides potential with tropical depression 19 as it hovers near the coast of Honduras through this weekend and then moves

greatly inland across the Yucatan Peninsula. So what that means as it enters the Bay of Campeche, the southern Gulf of Mexico, it will be a much more disorganized storm versus as if it was to split the difference between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula stay over open waters.

and what was forecast yesterday potentially impact florida as what was a tropical storm or hurricane by the second half of next week. Regardless, this is going to bring a lot of rain to the area, but as it shifts to the southeastern U. S. For Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, it should be a greatly weaker storm and it should also just be more of a rain and

gusty wind threat. Now moving on, we've got a storm system that's moving into the northeast that hopefully would bring some rainfall to the drought conditions and the wildfire areas across New England. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Storm system is going to slide south and bring no relief in terms of rain to places like New Jersey and New York today. Casey. All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you.

Still ahead here on CNN This Morning, Trump already rattling Capitol Hill. We're going to talk to Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss, who joins us live to discuss how Trump's latest cabinet choices could shape Washington. Plus, an outgoing presidential meeting with their successor used to be tradition. Joe Biden extended the courtesy that he never received from Donald Trump.

Trump said they had a really good meeting, said Biden was gracious and that they really enjoyed seeing each other. Last week, Joe Biden was an evil force who weaponized the justice system to put Trump in prison for the rest of his life. Today, they had fun.

I'm not on Russia's side, but unfortunately the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement. I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. 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.

Donald Trump's vision for his national security team is taking shape, the newest edition being one of the newest editions being veteran and former Democratic Congresswoman turned Republican Fox News contributor Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard has been tapped to serve as the next director of national intelligence. She has no formal intelligence experience herself, and she has previously raised eyebrows for seeming to parrot Russian propaganda. They are so focused on how do we punish Putin,

that they don't care and are not focused on what is actually in the best interests of the American people. But they're lying. Ukraine isn't actually a democracy. Trump's former U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, said this yesterday about both Gabbard and Trump's attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz. I don't think either she or Matt Gaetz

ought to have a confirmation hearing until they have both had full field FBI investigations. Then I think the Chinese would say, maybe they are serious. I think so, given the Russian propaganda that she has espoused over the past period of time,

All right, joining us now to discuss Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. He's also a Marine veteran, serves on the China Select Committee. Congressman, thanks very much for being here. Good morning. I'd like to just start with your reaction to, in particular, Tulsi Gabbard, what you saw there about the questions she raised about Ukraine, which I know is an issue that you have focused on. Indeed. In Trump's first term, his national security cabinet were men of character who put the Constitution and common sense ahead of

their loyalty to him. And it's clear that he's not trying to make that mistake again in his second administration. He wants people who have no qualifications for the roles that they are holding and are only going to parrot White House talking points and commands, which is why we really have to focus on preventing the politicization of the military and the intelligence services and not letting them be used against the American people. Because that is what Donald Trump has promised to do on the campaign trail. And there's every reason to believe that he will follow through on that threat.

Do you think that Tulsi Gabbard would represent a, as DNI, would represent a national security threat? Some have argued that that might be the case. Yes, I do, given that she has parroted Syrian and Russian talking points. And the Senate needs to demand a full dossier on her activities and her potential liabilities in regards to foreign actors.

But again, most forcefully, we have to recognize that neither the DNI nor the Secretary of Defense is actually going to have any agency in this administration. This is entirely about the White House and Donald Trump. He is going to broach no dispute, and he is going to command them to pursue his own agenda, which, as he has said on the campaign trail, is about setting up a military tribunal for Liz Cheney.

Let me ask you about Pete Hegseth as well, given your own military background. Many were surprised when that name came out, but of course that surprise seems to pale in comparison to some of the other picks that have come out since, including, of course, Matt Gaetz. Do you think that Hegseth is qualified to lead the Department of Defense, and what are you most concerned about? No, I don't. He's never managed anything, and this is a $1 trillion bureaucracy, and he...

does not support the United States backing a fellow democracy in Ukraine as we need to fight for freedom as they are fighting on the front lines for it.

This underscores the imperative for Joe Biden to take the final two months he has as commander in chief and to lift the restrictions on Ukraine's use of U.S.-made weapons to strike inside of Russia, to strike their oil refineries, to strike their troop staging sites and their ballistic missile launching sites. We can change the facts on the ground in Ukraine's favor, but the clock is ticking so that they are in a strong position at the bargaining table.

So just to be clear, you would support Ukraine using U.S. military-provided equipment, weaponry, funds to strike deep inside of Russia? I've been arguing for it for a year now that...

Russia's striking inside Ukraine. We're not letting Ukraine strike inside of Russia. And the Biden administration is calibrated to the wrong dimension of risk. They're worried that Russia will escalate to nuclear weapons. The true risk is that Russia's gonna escalate by taking Kiev and looking at Lithuania or Poland. And now we've got a NATO on Russia conflict on our hands. So you are calling on the Biden administration to allow this in the last months of his presidency? I have been repeatedly calling on them to do it. And their delay and their dilatory tactics on this is putting Ukraine at risk. They need to act

and they had two months to do it. - All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss for us this morning, sir. Very grateful for your time. Thanks for being here. All right, still to come here on CNN this morning, Senate Republicans elect a new leader. Donald Trump already has plenty of demands. Plus, Trump allies in Congress warn their colleagues against blocking Trump's cabinet picks. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna joins us live next.

-Vote with President Trump. This is the last chance we're gonna have of saving this country, and if you want to get in the way, fine, but we're gonna try to get you out of the Senate. -I know Matt Gaetz, and by the way, his Republicans feel -- his Republican colleagues feel the same way that I do. He is a gonzo agent of chaos.

I'm CNN's John King. Join me for the podcast All Over the Map. The election, of course, is behind us now. And in some ways, it was a stunner of an outcome. So we're going to return today to the voices of the people we've gotten to know in the last year and a half. I think a lot of people that's hurting right now, especially women. People around me were in the closet about how they were going to vote. I have so much hope. Listen to All Over the Map wherever you get your podcasts.

President Trump was elected by an enormous vote and he deserves the team around him that he wants. It's not us to determine that. I've already seen where a couple of them says, "I'm not voting for him." Wait a minute. You are not the United States of America. You have one vote in the U.S. Senate. You did not get elected president. Vote with President Trump. This is the last chance we're going to have of saving this country. And if you want to get in the way, fine. But we're going to try to get you out of the Senate too if you try to do that.

Get in line or get out of the way. That's the message from Senator, Trump supporter, Tommy Tuberville to any of his colleagues who think to vote against confirming Donald Trump's newly announced administration picks.

Regardless, not all of Trump's appointments require Senate approval. For example, billionaire Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, they won't go through any sort of traditional confirmation process before they take the helm of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency. Yes, that does abbreviate to DOGE for short.

country. This is the equivalent of a modern Manhattan project to take on. I think the major problem holding our country back, it's the federal bureaucracy. Target that cost, save the money, restore self-governance. All right, joining us now to discuss Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. He currently sits on the House Armed Services and Oversight Committees. Congressman, thanks very much for being here this morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Let's start there because you of course do represent Silicon Valley and I know that you have personal relationships with many of these tech leaders. Elon Musk in particular is someone who has played an enormous role in Donald Trump's campaign, given him an enormous sum of money. And I saw that you had been on talking about how part of the reason for that is personal

to the Democratic Party, part of the reason why there was that break. Can you explain that a little bit further? What exactly was personal about it that led us to this point? And what do you expect from Musk in this role? I think it's both personal and to some extent now ideological. I mean, we didn't champion him as a founder of electric vehicles. There was a summit that President Biden held

on electric vehicles. We didn't invite Elon Musk to that. Now, I have called for Tesla to have labor neutrality with UAW. We should have invited UAW, but he should not have been snubbed. And then there have been issues of not celebrating what SpaceX has been doing. There have been issues of not understanding what Starlink's value could be.

And so this is why he had supported Hillary Clinton, he had supported Barack Obama, but he has drifted in terms of supporting the Democratic Party. But there's also an ideological difference. I mean, he is for much less government spending for people. And it's unfortunate that he's taken a more conservative turn. We just disagree on that.

Congressman, it's interesting to me that you frame it this way in terms of saying you're basically lining up the ideological constituencies in the Democratic Party. You're talking about labor unions and how it would seem that Democrats might offend that group in their coalition were he to be invited. That is one piece of what seems to be a much bigger story.

about the election and Democrats broadly and how concern about various constituency groups and how they would react may have led to an environment that contributed to the loss across the board. Do you think that's the case? And how do you think the party should move forward on that front? Well, Casey, I think there are two things that led to the loss. I mean, many factors, but two salient ones. One, we didn't speak enough to Democrats

the millions of Americans, the vast majority of Americans were struggling economically, who feel that the American dream is slipping away, whose kids aren't able to buy a house or a car, who've seen factories offshore. And we just didn't speak to their pain, to their frustration. They didn't feel seen. And we didn't have a compelling vision. I mean, what we should have said, like FDR, who had a dollar a year, men and women, business leaders and technology leaders coming into government to

build America, that's what our vision should have been, that we were going to enlist people from Silicon Valley business leaders to build new factories and with unions and not to tear down government. And we should have contrasted our economic vision with theirs and made the case in Michigan and Pennsylvania that we're actually going to be more successful in getting new steel plants up, new aluminum plants up and increasing wages, giving machinists and electricians and centers to actually get stock in a company's performance and

having equity. I mean, we should have had a more robust economic agenda. And the second thing is we need to listen to people more, be humble, even though we have our own convictions on issues, not cancel or shame people, but engage in good faith. When you say not cancel or shame people, I mean, what do you say to voters who view the Democratic Party as the party of cancellation?

- Then we're not. I mean, there are many Democrats like me who are classical liberals who believe strongly in free speech. It's one of the things that, you know, and I agreed on. I mean, my email to Twitter

had leaked my private email where I said that you should not take down a New York Post journalist's post on the Hunter Biden laptop story. I'm a huge believer in free speech. Jake Auchincloss, your last guest, is a believer in free speech. There are many people in the Democratic Party who do believe that. And I would argue that we need to highlight that part of the party more and understand that we have our convictions. We may disagree, but we need to disagree with respect and humility.

Yeah. So, Congressman, as the Democratic Party rebuilds, you're going to have to look ahead to the midterm elections, eventually a presidential election in 2028. Who are who should be the set of new faces for the Democratic Party? And are you one of them?

Well, I think there's going to be a lot of great people who can help lead our party. You have people who've won swing districts like Pat Ryan, Chris Deluzio, Marie

who we need to listen to in these communities. You have strong progressive voices like Maxwell Frost and Delilah Ramirez who understand how the war was a big issue in losing young people. So I just think that I'm excited about a whole new generation. Of course, I would like to be part of the conversation on economic re-industrialization and what we need to do to bring economic prosperity to places that have been left out.

But I'm excited about a whole new generation of leaders. - Are you considering running for president in the future?

No, not right now, honestly. We don't even have a majority yet in Congress. We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. Here's what I think every Democratic leader should do after this. Spend six months outside the country, go to communities, listen. Really, let's build up a bottom-up agenda. And our first priority has to be to take back Congress. Really, that's going to be my effort and my focus in the next couple years.

All right, Congressman Ro Khanna for us this morning. Congressman, thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Jeff Zeleny, can I ask you about kind of his positioning inside the Democratic Party and what's next for them as, because let's be real, yes, it's early. Okay, we've still got another four years till the next election, but it's not like these people don't start thinking about it right away. Right, and we really don't have four years. It's actually much shorter than that. I mean, I think that the congressman is definitely in the mix in terms of leading the

the Bernie Sanders wing, I guess, of the party, if you will. He has traveled across the country throughout the election, earning a lot of relationships with Democrats in battleground states and elsewhere. So I absolutely think he'll be in the mix. But look, Democrats are going to be, it's not going to be

at the forefront of the conversation in Washington, but out in America, it will be. And we'll get our first look at that, at who are the ranking finalists for the DNC chair. And that'll be coming up next month. All right.

Let's turn out of this. South Dakota Senator John Thune will replace Senator Mitch McConnell as the new leader of the Senate GOP. Republicans will, of course, have a trifecta in Washington next year since they've won the White House and both chambers of Congress. Thune is going to be responsible for helping usher Donald Trump's agenda and his cabinet through Congress. Trump has, of course, already made the controversial demand that he wants the Senate to bypass the traditional confirmation process for his cabinet picks. Democrats, quick to push back.

I mean, that would be the end of the United States Senate. If the Senate chose to end its power of advice and consent and just allow the president to choose without any input, confirmation process or approval his cabinet, I don't know why we would continue to show up for work. That's not a democracy anymore. Thune saying yesterday he intends the process to move quickly.

The Senate has an advise and consent role in the Constitution, so we will do everything we can to process his noms quickly, get them installed in their positions so they can begin to implement his agenda. We expect a level of cooperation from the Democrats to work with us to get these folks installed. And obviously we're going to look at, explore all options to make sure that they get moved and that they get moved quickly.

All right, our panel's back, including CNN political analyst historian Leah Wright-Rigor, who joins us now. Leah, I'd like your big picture thoughts on...

Kind of how you heard Chris Murphy characterize it there as I mean, his framing, well, why would we even show up to work actually would probably help Donald Trump, because if Democrats don't show up, that by definition, the Senate will be allowed to be in recess if that's what Republicans do. But setting that aside, I mean, how do you look at the landscape facing Republicans in Washington right now?

So I think the election of Thune to Senate majority leader is a really important point. It was less about, I think it's less about, you know, is Thune going to win this and did Ritz Scott, who is largely seen as the kind of the MAGA person, Trump person, losing the race? And so part of what we're looking at is,

Are we seeing guardrails? Are we going to see a Senate that is run, you know, as essentially in lockstep with Donald Trump? Or are we going to see a Senate that sees itself as independent and says, you know, if we agree on Trump on this, we support him on this. If we don't agree with Trump on this, we push back. And I think Donald Trump has actually set this up in a lot of ways

for a real test, right? He has all of these appointees, including Gates, who we've been talking about all morning, who are coming forward. And Thune's immediately going to have to jump in and say, you know, do I just kind of sign off on this? Do I say, you know, this is going to push through the idea of recess appointments and recess appointments, you know, essentially saying no Senate confirmation, no hearing, no vetting, that kind of thing, just going through and rubber stamping it? Or do I actually open this up? And one thing that I want to point out is that

you actually have to think about Donald Trump as a lame duck president, right? And we want to find out, we're going to find out, is that the way that Thune thinks of him as well? And if he does think of him as well, this is about a test of Thune's actual power as leader of Senate Republicans. Well, I don't think he's a lame duck in the traditional sense. Yes, he can't run again.

But make no mistake, Donald Trump is the most powerful Republican in the country. He has influence over virtually every Republican in this country. There are some senators who are going to oppose him on a couple of these nominations, but his power, his political power is not draining, and it will not drain

in the same way that you would expect a normal lame duck president. He's far more powerful and influential than the normal, I think, lame duck term that we use. At least until the midterms. There's no doubt about that. The next two years are very, very important. But for John Thune, I think this is, it's certainly a test for him. But some of his members, some of the members of the Senate conference,

probably won't run again. So I think on the individual members like the Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and others, they are not likely to change what they've done and their sort of record and view of the Senate because Donald Trump is president.

And the majority is not huge. I mean, three seats is not... I mean, there's certainly more than four that could buck him on it. But also, most of these people are going to be confirmed easily. And most of them are terrific picks. And the Senate Republicans are going to praise them and come to their aid. So I think a couple of flashpoints shouldn't overshadow that Trump's assembled a pretty qualified group.

If we could put, I mean, we could put Matt Gaetz as a couple of flashpoints. He's going to be the other guy. Department of Justice. Significant flashpoint. Anyway, okay. President Biden is vowing a return to the U.S. tradition of peacefully transferring power. He hosted President-elect Trump for a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, and for at least 29 seconds, while the media was in the Oval Office, these two bitter political foes did strike a cordial tone with one another. We're going to get a chance to talk about something.

Politics is tough and it's, in many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today and I appreciate it very much. A transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Jim. Well, Mr. President-elect and former president and Donald, congratulations and looking forward to having, like we said, a smooth transition.

Now, of course, we cannot show you a picture of these two men shaking hands when Trump left office because Biden was denied that courtesy by Donald Trump four years ago as Trump was falsely claiming that the election had been stolen from him. Those nice words exchanged at the White House, a very different tone to what we heard on the trail not so long ago.

Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country. We're going to knock off the Biden grind family. We have a man that can't put two sentences together. We have a man that doesn't know he's alive. The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.

Megan Hayes, you know well what this moment, how, I mean, how do you read it? I mean, it had to have been hard for Joe Biden based on how he feels about Donald Trump, but on the other hand, he did it. He's a statesman and everyone knows that. He likes the tradition. He likes this. He loves being the president, but also Joe Biden is notorious for not holding grudges and he knows that this is what you need to do. Is he notorious for

- Yes, it's the family that might hold some grudges and some staff, but Joe Biden traditionally does not hold grudges against people. This is exactly what you would expect of him. This is exactly what everything, people who have worked for him expect of him. He was a statesman. He was very gracious to him coming into the Oval. Clearly he came from the House. - I'm shocked. I mean, did you ever think you'd see literal Hitler in the Oval Office with the president of the United States? I mean, you know what I see in all this? - I mean, Scott, that's not, I mean, Biden didn't say that literally.

It was the underpinning of the Democratic campaign that Donald Trump is a fascist. And what I see in this, I'm glad it's happening, but what it tells me and what it ought to tell Democrats is they didn't mean any of it. It was all campaign rhetoric. And I think, to me, if you really meant any of it,

This wouldn't be happening. I'm glad it's happening, but to me, it totally blows up the way they ran this campaign at the end of the campaign. The bigger picture here is that Donald Trump did not afford Joe Biden the same courtesy. And that affected the entire Biden administration. That affected all four years because his election was delegitimized in the eyes of many people. But look, Joe Biden ran for president for the first time to...

sort of expunged Donald Trump. And now that did not happen. He's back stronger than ever. So a moment of history for Joe Biden. But to your point, he's a statesman. I mean, that's who he has been. So I thought it was a good moment for the country. I also think, I mean, he is part of this older generation where civility and dialogue are

necessary, right? Like there's legendary stories about Joe Biden in Congress and reaching across the aisle and working, you know, not holding grudges, perhaps holding certain kinds of grudges with certain people, but largely being known for doing these kinds of things. But I do, you know, this is a moment where I do think there's something about seeing Biden interact with Trump that

that actually for the American public does in some ways undermine, both undermine this argument that Democrats have been making for a very long time about fascism, right? Do you sit down with fascism? But it's also important to remember that they see this as a really important part of the transition for free and fair elections. This is a really important part of democracy. All right. Well, we unfortunately have hit seven o'clock, so we've got to leave it there. Thanks to you guys for joining us. Thanks to all of you for being with us as well. I'm Casey Hutt. Don't go anywhere. Santa News Central starts right now.

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