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Lawyer for Two Women Who Testified to House Ethics Committee about Representative Matt Gaetz Reveals Part of Their Testimony; Conviction in New York against Donald Trump for Paying Hush Money and Falsifying Documents May be Dismissed Now that Trump is U.S. President-Elect. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 19, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK PFAFF, FACE TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: I can hear. I can taste, nose, lips, teeth. I got all that work. And I look like a person again. It was incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: He says he looks like a person again, Sara. And now he says his mission is to raise awareness around suicide. He wants other young adults to know if they're ever struggling to reach out for help, call that 988 crisis lifeline. And he is one of about 50 people around the world to ever have a face transplant. So this is also very fascinating, innovative medicine to watch.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It was a fascinating story. Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for bringing that to us.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What to do about an attorney general. If you ask Donald Trump, a source close to him says Trump wants Matt Gaetz confirmed 100 percent. He's all in. If you ask the senators whose job it is to confirm the pick, even Republicans say they've got questions today.

And just in, Russia's defense minister now says Ukraine has fired American-made long-range missiles into Russia. Biden giving the green light means what now for that long-stalled war.

And the dramatic moment police rescue a man from his burning pickup truck.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: This morning, Donald Trump appears to be hell bent on getting his highly controversial nominee, Matt Gaetz, in for attorney general. The president-elect doubling down now on backing him as Republican senators behind the scenes are more and more reportedly expressing doubts about this pick. This as House lawmakers are deciding whether or not to release that ethics report on sexual misconduct allegations involving Gaetz. A lawyer for two of the women who testified for that report shared this with CNN's Erin Burnett last night.

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JOEL LEPPARD, LAWYER FOR WOMAN WHO TESTIFIED AGAINST GAETZ ABOUT SEX ALLEGATIONS: She testified to the House that Representative Gaetz did not know her friend's age at the time they had sexual intercourse. And when he found out about her age, that Representative Gaetz stopped having sexual intercourse with her, and he only started the sexual intercourse interactions later on once she turned 18.

The testimony before the House was, yes, that Representative Gaetz paid my client, both of my clients for sexual favors throughout the summer of 2017 all the way to the beginning of 2019.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow. All of this as Trump is continuing to name new picks, including another FOX television host, to run the Department of Transportation.

A lot to talk about here. CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston is with us now. Mark, all right, we will get to Gaetz in just a bit, but first on this latest pick for Transportation Secretary. What are you learning about this?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Sara, let's channel John Berman here a little bit. It is getting real here in Washington. Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Transportation is a former congressman, served four terms in Congress, representing Wisconsin. But more importantly, he really came of age during this new era of celebrity, right in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Sean Duffy, many people probably remember him from "The Real World." I believe he was on season six, actually met his wife in one of the spinoff series Rachel Campos-Duffy. She herself is on FOX as well. What's interesting about them is that they have nine children, and Sean Duffy is an incredibly conservative person. His pick, though, certainly does seem to fit the mold of what Donald Trump is trying to do, trying to infuse young new life into Washington.

SIDNER: And not just young new life, but people who are really good on television and able to sort of put the message out there, right.

I do want to ask you, though, of course about the Gaetz drama. We are now seeing and hearing from sources that Donald Trump has been making phone calls, making personal appeals to senators. And now we're seeing Elon Musk jump into the middle of this. What can you tell us?

PRESTON: Yes, I'm not surprised by that. Look, we know that Elon Musk has been right at the side of Donald Trump from election night until probably this morning as we're speaking. The reality is right now is that the Trump campaign really took a big risk by putting Matt Gaetz out there. Not only is Matt Gaetz controversial, but he's not well- liked in his own political party. We've seen that where we've seen Republicans not only in the House but also in the Senate have expressed incredible frustration with the fact that Matt Gaetz has been put up there.

But you have to wonder, though, Sara, was Gaetz put up there with the idea that he would be the sacrificial lamb?

[08:05:00]

Because if he is the sacrificial lamb, the reality is Pete Hegseth, who is another controversial pick, to lead the Department of Defense, would he have a better chance of getting through? Robert Kennedy, who Trump wants to oversee all of health care in the United States, does he have a better chance of getting through as a cabinet secretary if you're able to sacrifice one person? If that is the case, Donald Trump, again, has trumped us all.

SIDNER: Mark Preston, a way to put it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, CNN senior legal analyst and bureau chief Elie Honig. Counselor, thanks so much for being with us. You heard the interview with the lawyers for these women who have spoken to the House Ethics Committee, who may or may not release a report. I just want to read a tweet from Elon Musk, and I want you to put it all in perspective here. Elon Musk maybe the most important advisor to the president elect. He said, "As for the accusations against Matt Gaetz, I consider them worth less than nothing. Under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. If A.G. Garland, an unprincipled d-bag, could have secured a conviction against Gaetz, he would have. But he knew he could not. Case closed."

So that is legal scholar Elon Musk commenting on this. What's the difference between the Justice Department decision not to press charges and what the House Ethics Committee has investigated and may produce?

ELIE HONIG, SENIOR CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So colorful language aside, John, Elon Musk is actually not too far off the mark there when he describes what the Justice Department did and does. What DOJ does and did in the Matt Gaetz case is they look at all the evidence, they decide, do we have enough to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury? Is this a case that needs to be brought and should be brought? And the decision was no. That does not mean they cleared Matt Gaetz. That does not mean Matt Gaetz did nothing wrong.

But what I think Elon Musk's tweet is missing is that there's a completely separate political calculation that's going on here, which is can he gain a majority of the Senate votes for confirmation to be the attorney general, to be the nation's top law enforcement official? That's an entirely different question than should this person be on the other side of the "v" as a criminal defendant. BERMAN: And an Ethics Committee in the House isn't necessarily passing judgment on legality. They're passing judgment on whether or not someone is fit to serve in the House of Representatives, which Gaetz no longer is. But that's what their investigation is all about, correct?

HONIG: Yes, exactly. And to that end, I don't think there's any way Matt Gaetz outruns these allegations. Theres only really two ways for him to get to confirmation. Either -- well, either it's going to sidetrack his confirmation, or he's going to get confirmed despite these allegations. And even if the House chooses to keep its report secret, to keep it under wraps, still, these allegations can come forward, as we started to see with that interview with the lawyer for the witness last night. There's nothing to prevent people from coming forward. There's certainly nothing to prevent the Senate from doing a thorough investigation, from digging in, from interviewing witnesses, from even perhaps calling witnesses to testify.

So either this is going to derail Matt Gaetz or he's going to get confirmed despite these allegations.

BERMAN: So today could be, and "could" is doing a lot of work there, an interesting day in the New York criminal case, the conviction against Donald Trump for paying hush money and falsifying documents. Judge Juan Merchan may decide what today, Elie?

HONIG: So the Manhattan district attorney's office, the last we heard last week, they said we need a week, we need until today to decide what we want to do. So the first thing we're going to do is hear from the Manhattan D.A. They're going to take one of two tacks. Either they're going to say, we agree with Donald Trump that because he's now the president elect, this case is over. That's option one. Option two is the Manhattan D.A.'s case may say we disagree with Donald Trump. Even though he is president-elect, we want to proceed forward.

In that case, it will go to Judge Merchan. He'll decide whether the case is over because Trump is president-elect or whether the case carries on. If it carries on, then Judge Merchan is going to decide the immunity ruling. And then depending how that comes out, maybe proceed to sentencing. But there's a lot of ifs there. The Manhattan D.A. signaled in its submission last week, it sounded like they tended to view the way that Donald Trump's team views it, which is because he's the president elect, it's now over. But we'll see for sure today where the D.A. stands.

BERMAN: Could this thing be done by close of business today?

HONIG: It could be if the D.A. puts in a filing with the with the judge saying, we agree with Donald Trump's team. Because he's president-elect, this case is over. Then Judge Merchan will review that. If he agrees with both parties, he could say that's it, case closed. We're not getting to the immunity ruling. We're not doing sentencing. That is a real possibility, John.

BERMAN: All right, Elie H,onig could be a busy day for you. Appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Ukraine has made good on their promise. Fresh off getting the green light to use U.S. weapons to strike deeper into Russia, Ukraine just did that. The new details that are just coming in right now, we have that for you.

[08:10:07]

And President Biden set to speak any second now at the G20. His message to world leaders ahead of a second Donald Trump term.

And people out, people were out for a day of fun at a California amusement park, and they got way more than they bargained for, left dangling for hours.

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BERMAN: WE are standing by for President Biden to deliver his final remarks in Brazil as the G20 summit comes to a close. This is his last G20 before Donald Trump heads back to the White House just two months from now.

[08:15:00]

CNN's Kayla Tausche is traveling with the president in Rio. What do we expect to hear from President Biden today, Kayla?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, President Biden and other world leaders are focusing on climate initiatives today and in his remarks to leaders later on this morning. President Biden is expected to announce $325 million pledge to the World Bank's clean technology fund.

This essentially allows developing nations to fund their own clean energy transition in much the same way that President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act funded green and clean energy initiatives in the United States.

Now, officials said that this money will be deposited well before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. So, in that sense, it's irreversible. It's money that's already out the door. But of course, there are other initiatives here and future targets that could be reversible. And that's what everyone is talking about here in Rio.

Senior administration officials acknowledge that it's going to be up to state and local governments to carry the baton on clean energy, on climate change after President Biden leaves office. And they warn that other countries are ready to step in and assume that mantle and all the manufacturing dollars that go along with it.

But this is really the harsh reality of Biden's final turn on the world stage, as he's more or less fading from view with a few brief pull-aside meetings with leaders and very brief remarks. No press conferences for President Biden for the very first time at one of these major summits during the entire course of his presidency. He'll be on the ground here for a few more hours. But of course, he's going to be leaving, heading back to Washington, DC as these world leaders grapple with what comes next in their relationships with the United States and the relationships with each other -- John.

BERMAN: Interesting, no press conference for the only time at these meetings in his presidency.

Kayla Tausche, thank you so much for that. -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: That is interesting, joining us right now to talk much more about this and all the headlines really coming in this morning is global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

And Kim, I want to focus in on what we've really learned about coming from the White House. The White House giving the greenlight to Ukraine to use ATACMS and missiles to go farther into Russia firing into Russia.

We just learned this morning that Russian state media confirms that Ukraine did fire long-range missiles provided by the United States into Russia for the first time. Really, it seems Ukraine wasting no time after getting that greenlight. What is your sense of what impact this has on this war?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, this feels like the Biden administrations attempt to checkmate both Putin and Trump on the way out. In terms of Putin, you know, Putin has just signed this updated policy for use of nuclear weapons, saying essentially that if any nuclear armed power enables another power to attack Russia. RE: if the US allows Ukraine to attack in Russia proper, then we could possibly use nuclear weapons.

But with this few weeks to go to an incoming Trump administration why would Putin do that and jeopardize security writ large and basically waste his ammunition right now by using nuclear weapons? So, that's checkmated and on the Trump side of things yes, Trump could turn around this policy on January 20th and pull back the permissions and say Ukraine, you can no longer use these long range weapons inside Russia.

But in the interim, what are countries like Britain and France going to do? They weren't giving permission for the use of their long range weapons until the US did.

So, they could now say, hey, you can use our Storm Shadow systems to help and all of these weapons being enabled at once could help Kyiv retain Kursk through the Trump administration taking office, and then they've got Kursk as a bargaining chip to trade off for parts of the Donbas or maybe even parts of Crimea when they sit down with this inevitable negotiation that Trump says he's going to organize between Moscow and Kyiv.

BOLDUAN: It is so interesting because -- and also add into this Kim, one of the reasons long offered for why the White House did not give this approval sooner, though we know Zelenskyy has been asking for this for quite some time -- is the risk of pushing this war to escalate further?

This morning, as you mentioned, we heard that now Putin has put out this new nuclear doctrine, which could point to escalation. But what do you see in this? Do you see this as the White House very clearly just trying to do as you point out, have checkmate, both of them boxed both of Trump and Putin in as they're heading out the door or do they just don't think the risk is as risky of escalation anymore?

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DOZIER: Well, it's that Putin has made these threats from the beginning. And I've spoken to European leaders who've been frustrated with the Biden White House saying Putin is playing Biden, playing National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, that he knows as long as he waves the nuclear flag that they will back off.

And so, now in the waning days of the administration, they're saying all right, you're not going to use them now, so we can call your bluff.

But the fact of the matter is, this only works if Trump really wants to solve this in 24 hours once he comes into office, or in a very brief amount of time. Because in the long term, without US support of Ukraine, Ukraine is going to have to capitulate because Europe simply doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to make enough weapons to backfill what the US is supplying right now.

So that's the long-term situation that Kyiv is looking at. So basically, the Biden administration is trying to set the table so that President Zelenskyy has as much riding on his side as possible when he sits down to get likely strong armed by Trump together with Putin.

BOLDUAN: One place we know that Vladimir Putin is not is at this G-20 in Peru as President Biden is going to be wrapping it up. This is because the International Criminal Court is currently has an arrest warrant out for Vladimir Putin over this, what we're exactly talking about Ukraine.

President Biden is wrapping this G-20 with what as a parting message, do you think to world leaders because all the reporting we have been seeing is that world leaders are kind of already looking past him and looking toward the next occupant of the White House.

DOZIER: Yes, he seems to be sticking to his message going down with the ship. This morning, the White House put out his agreement with Brazil on sustainable energy and climate change, things that we all know are going to be reversed come January but he is messaging, I think, both to the world and to Democratic voters back in the States, this is what the Democrats stand for and, you know, in three years, Trump will be a lame duck and you're going to have to think about how you want to go forward.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Kim, thank you as always. --Sara.

SIDNER:. All right, it has been seven weeks, almost two months since Hurricane Helene ripped through Western North Carolina, devastating entire communities.

Finally today, some residents can stop boiling water. The mayor of Asheville is sharing the ongoing recovery, up next.

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[08:27:13]

SIDNER: It has been seven weeks since Hurricane Helene devastated parts of Western North Carolina. Seven weeks of road detours, clean up, and quest to find clean water.

For people in Asheville, the boil water advisory was finally lifted. That just happened yesterday.

Today, FEMA Administrator, Deanne Criswell will be on Capitol Hill to testify about disaster relief and she will be asked whether the agency avoided helping Republicans in hard-hit areas. That is all because a FEMA employee was fired earlier this month after being accused of skipping homes that had Donald Trump campaign signs.

Here is what that worker though told CNN last night.

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MARN'I WASHINGTON, FORMER FEMA WORKER: I would like for the American people to know is before I even deployed to Florida that this was the work culture there. I was on two teams in Florida and the first team when I arrived they were implementing avoidance and de-escalation and unfortunately in that trend ran with those Trump campaign signs.

I don't create policy, FEMA does. I just implement them in field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, joining me now, is the Mayor of Asheville North Carolina, Esther Manheimer, thank you so much.

I know there is so much going on in your community, so much heartbreak and people just trying to figure out how to put their lives back together.

I do want to ask you about this, because it has become a flash point. Have you heard from anyone in your community that is concerned that they are not getting help from FEMA because of their political affiliation?

MAYOR ESTHER MANHEIMER (D) ASHVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: Absolutely not, I'm not hearing that at all here in Ashville, North Carolina.

SIDNER: Could I ask you --

MANHEIMER: We -- I mean I will say, I've been a -- I'm sorry.

SIDNER: Go ahead. MANHEIMER: I was just going to say, we work closely with FEMA here in our community and I have my contacts that make themselves available to us and if anybody has any concerns or issues about their claims with FEMA, I'm able to direct those at folks who are with FEMA who can help them out.

SIDNER: Can you describe to me right now, sort of what is going on in your community. What are the biggest issues that you are facing almost two months after Hurricane Helene hit?

MANHEIMER: So, what I would say, first of all is that we've come a long way, you know, when this all started we had communications blackout, we had no water, we had no power, we were analogue, we were listening to the radio, that's what the early days were like.

And now, we've come a long way. We've got a lot of functionalities restored. We finally have a restored water system.

So there are many parts of Ashville that are open for business. The famous Biltmore Estate has reopened, but we still have areas where we have bridges that are failed and road outages, a lot of repair work throughout West North Carolina to fix the roadway system, the highway system, a lot of landslides that resulted in road damage, things like that.

And we have a lot of individuals who lost their homes and need homes and we have businesses that were either destroyed or they were out of commission for several weeks now because they didn't have water who need to get back on their feet.

[08:30:31]