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President-Elect Trump's Attorney General Nominee Pam Bondi and Secretary of State Nominee Marco Rubio to Testify at Senate Confirmation Hearings; President-Elect Trump's Nominee for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Facing Possible Headwinds for Her Confirmation among Senate Republicans. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Prosecutors say they have these dozens of videos where they show multiple people having sex that they say was coerced. They say that Combs was ablet to use financial pressure, threats of physical violence against some of these victims. But all of this will come out at trial through the testimony of the victims. Some of these videos that will probably be played in the courtroom, and this will be the back and forth here, as we're really seeing Combs has been digging in that this was all consensual with his long term partner.

BERMAN: It's shaping up to be some case. Kara Scannell, thank you so much for this reporting.

Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we're standing by for high stakes confirmation hearings today for six of Donald Trump's key cabinet picks. First in the hot seat, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, a staunch defender of Trump's election lies.

And the wind gusts expected to intensify once again near Los Angeles today, likely fueling fires and making it harder for firefighters to battle the flames. Some of those on the front lines, inmates turned firefighters, a look at the controversy surrounding the help they provide.

And will TikTok go completely dark in the U.S.? New reports the app owner is ready to shut it all down on Sunday unless the Supreme Court stops the federal ban, going way further than people thought the app would.

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And it is another busy day ahead, especially on Capitol Hill, as six cabinet nominees are now preparing to face questions in front of the Senate today. Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, and his pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, are first up this morning. And these are clearly major cabinet positions we're talking about.

Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida. She has long supported Donald Trump. She spearheaded legal efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania, and she was part of his defense team for his first impeachment.

Let's talk about this big day ahead. CNN's Mark Preston is standing by, as well as Paula Reid. Let's start, Paula, let me start with you, if I could, to talk about Pam Bondi. Up for attorney general. People are seeing her as a more traditional pick when compared to Matt Gaetz. But in -- which, who was his first pick. You have new reporting on how she is preparing for what is sure to be some tough questions ahead.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's fair to say that many people would seem traditional compared to former congressman Matt Gaetz. But when they say that about Pam Bondi, they're referring to her resume. She comes to today's job interview with three decades of experience as a prosecutor, including eight years as the attorney general of Florida.

Now, I'm told that she has spent weeks with her team preparing for tough questions today. She has kept a remarkably low profile considering how significant this position could be in a second Trump administration. Trump has signaled that he may want to use the Justice Department, leverage it to go after his political enemies.

Now, in preparation for today, I am told that Bondi has met with senators, both Republicans and Democrats, from the Judiciary Committee. Even though she comes with an extensive resume in law enforcement, Democrats see her biggest liability as her loyalty to Trump. And she is going to face a lot of questions about the extent to which she is going to be willing to leverage this office to pursue his political whims. She has been incredibly loyal to Trump. She has served as a Trump surrogate. She was a lawyer on his first impeachment team. She also pushed false claims about the 2020 election. So that is going to be a real focus for Democrats.

But there's so much else to ask her about because the Justice Department does so much work beyond matters related to President Biden or President-elect Trump. The recent terror attacks remind us of the threat of ISIS. The Justice Department also deals with violent crime, opioids, fraud, antitrust. There are so many questions she could face in today's hearing, but whatever comes her way, I'm told she'll have plenty of moral support because she will be accompanied by 16 members of her family. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, but even listing out the range of topics just off the top of your head of what the Justice Department faces just reinforces why this is so closely watched, how important this job is. It impacts every facet of every Americans life when you're talking about the attorney general. Paula, stand by for me.

Mark Preston, let's talk about Marco Rubio, up for secretary of state. All signs point to he is likely to have maybe a very different reception in front of his friends and colleagues in the Senate than, let's say, Pam Bondi, then let's say, Pete Hegseth, as we saw yesterday. What are you hearing about Marco Rubio?

[08:05:01]

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Kate, we will see Marco Rubio actually be on the flipside of where he usually sits. He usually, as a senator, sat on the Foreign Relations Committee, where he will now be testifying before or at least appearing before right now, unlike, you said, we saw yesterday with Pete Hegseth, there won't be a focus on Marco Rubio's personal feelings. There will be more of a questioning about what is the future of Donald Trump's foreign policy.

One of the folks, or rather, countries we expect Marco Rubio to go directly after is China. He's going to note that China was welcomed to the world stage. But yet once they got there, they lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status at our expense.

Now, Rubio not only will be asked about China today, expect him to be asked specifically about TikTok as well, which is going to be one of the biggest stories over the coming days, as well as aid to Ukraine. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, we have Senator Dick Durbin. He's coming up. He's obviously going to be the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. But to reinforce your point, he has announced that he is going to support Marco Rubio, the Democrat on that committee. One of the top Democrats in the Senate, has already announced he's going to be supporting Rubio for secretary of state. Let us see what happens. It's good to see you, buddy. Thank you. John?

PRESTON: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Florida man Marc Caputo, senior politics reporter at "Axios." Florida's Marco Rubio has a confirmation hearing today. Florida's Pam Bondi has a confirmation hearing today. Is there anyone left in Florida, Marc?

MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, "AXIOS": There are quite a bit. I guess there's Mike Waltz. Who is the national security advisor, Mauricio Claver-Carone is from Orlando. He's going to be at the Latin American envoy. Kevin Cabrera, the Miami-Dade County commissioner, is going to be the ambassador to Panama.

And there are two other Florida men who are going to be, and their names escape me, the ambassadors to Argentina and there and to Spain. So lots of Florida folks, and more to come on.

BERMAN: On Marco Rubio, and you've covered him for years, he's expected to sail through the confirmation process and have a relatively friendly hearing today. But there is some writing that this job that he's going to do will be difficult. Secretary of state is always difficult, but his positioning within the Trump administration. Look, there's an article in "Politico" today which quotes a diplomat, I want to read you that quote. "Rubio will be fairly hamstrung and will feel sidelined and frustrated, one foreign diplomat predicted to me. If he is surly or complains, the humiliation will escalate and then he will be fired. If he sucks it up, takes the humiliation, and smiles through gritted teeth, he will survive until someone else whispers in Trump's ear and angles for his job." What's your reporting on how Rubio is approaching this now?

CAPUTO: Well, you'll have to pardon me. My eyes almost rolled into the back of my head. I can't say how much B.S. that is. Remember, Donald Trump chose Marco Rubio to be secretary of state. He knows who Rubio is and what Rubio believes. And the differences between these two guys on foreign policy is very, very thin. When Marco Rubio was a United States senator and Donald Trump was president the first time as Trump 45, Rubio was essentially the day facto secretary of state for the western hemisphere. He was a constant Trump adviser. Trump bounced ideas off of him, took his advice, listened to him. In fact, as I've reported previously, at one point Trump was musing and was being urged to invade or have a military action in Venezuela. Who talked him out of it? Marco Rubio did. So whoever this ambassador is, I'm not sure if they're named, they don't know what they're talking about.

BERMAN: Now that Rubio looks obviously safe, Pete Hegseth looks like he's going to be confirmed, there's new focus on Tulsi Gabbard as being perhaps the most problematic Trump nominee. What are you hearing in terms of how confident the Trump transition is that she will get confirmed?

CAPUTO: That's always a tricky question, because in Trump world, when you ask them, how confident are you about something on a scale of one to 100 percent, they're always going to say 110 percent. Now, that said, they will acknowledge that, of all of the nominees, the one who is encountering and could encounter the most turbulence is Tulsi Gabbard. She has, in some of these meetings with Republican senators, according to both "Punchbowl News" and "The Wall Street Journal", struggled at times to answer questions about her views on surveillance. She doesn't seem, or didn't seem, in some of these meetings, to be as well prepared for the job of national director of intelligence.

Now, some Republicans have since come out and said, OK, she's answering our questions. We're more than happy. In the end, though, the Republican Senate, the Republicans who control the Senate understand that Donald Trump is a Republican and most of them believe, if not all of them believe, that he should get his picks. The one exception to that was Matt Gaetz. They bounced Matt Gaetz, and in Donald Trump's view, if you got rid of my Matt Gaetz pick, you need to pick everybody else.

[08:10:04]

BERMAN: Though, as you said, one of the issues seems to be that there is reporting that it is Republicans who have been less than thrilled with their interactions with Tulsi Gabbard. We'll see if that metastasizes over the next several days.

One last question. Since we started with Florida, let's end with Florida, how is Ron DeSantis doing down there. What does he see as his long-term political future? And I ask that because we have reporting that he was golfing with President Trump. CAPUTO: Yes, they're buddies again. In fact, Ron DeSantis had just

called a special session of the legislature to address immigration related issues sort of ahead of Donald Trump becoming president and issuing executive orders. So they're working hand in glove. They've put aside their differences.

And remember, for a period of time, a brief period of, what, a month ago or a little more, Donald Trump wasn't sure that Pete Hegseth was going to clear the nomination for defense secretary. And he had approached Ron DeSantis about maybe taking the job. And Ron DeSantis was considering it.

BERMAN: So that's quite a relationship, a long way they have come. We will see where that moves going forward. Marc Caputo, always great to see you. Thank you so much for sharing your reporting. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, as California fire crews prepare for more dangerous winds this morning, hundreds of people battling those flames are only making about a dollar an hour. We take a closer look at the program using inmates on the fire lines.

And what's the state of the economy being handed over to Donald Trump? In just minutes, a key indicator will come out.

And a man accused of stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark shouts out that he's guilty. That moment in court ahead.

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[08:16:11]

SIDNER: These next 24 hours are critical in California, particularly, dangerous winds threaten to whip up walls of fire. Right now, officials are urging millions of people in Los Angeles and nearby counties to stay on high alert.

Each day, the toll of the destruction and loss is sinking in. More than 40,000 applicants for FEMA assistance have already been filed.

Stephanie Elam is live in Pacific Palisades for us with the very latest here.

You have been doing such great work out there and watching the city that you love burn.

Stephanie, what is the latest that you are hearing now?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so I have to tell you, people are fatigued in Los Angeles. It's just been going on for so long for so many people not be able to get back to their homes to see what it looks like.

This is just what has people still on edge. And I can tell you, I put my mask back on because we are starting to feel the winds blow up. And because I'm standing between a whole block of houses that have been demolished by fire and picking things up. It's time to put the mask back on. So these are part of the concerns, these winds, what they're blowing and also whether or not they'll start other fires.

And that is the big concern here and that is why part of the reason they don't want people coming back into these areas just yet, also because they are methodically going through each lot to make sure with sniffer dogs, make sure that if anyone is a victim lost their lives, that they can find them. And also Cal Fire going through and making sure each lot is stable and safe.

We saw yesterday that the electricity companies are out here restoring power. You see the gas company out here as well all throughout this area because again, it is all the way down this hillside here, this entire area of Pacific Palisades just demolished.

So, they're working to make it safe. But for people who want to get back in here and see for themselves, it's not time yet. In fact, they're being very, very difficult about getting into these areas. Several checkpoints you have to go through as media in some places are even just being more difficult, letting people in that way.

So still not a time for people to make their way in here. And hopefully after these winds die down later this week, hopefully people will be able to come back and check on their property -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, the frustration and fear is real. But as these search and rescue teams or search teams are going through those homes, it is disturbing to know that the cadaver dogs, as you mentioned, are out for the potential of finding more victims in this fire.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for all the work that you and your crew have been doing out there -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, one dollar an hour to fight the wildfires. New details on the inmates who have joined the front lines of fire crews in California.

And happening today, critical hearings on Capitol Hill for some of the most important cabinet positions. Trump's picks for attorney general and secretary of state preparing for the hot seat.

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[08:23:21]

BOLDUAN: Today, six of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks head to Capitol Hill for high stakes confirmation hearings, a critical step for any of them to be able to join the administration, of course, with one of the most critical positions in the spotlight just minutes from now, the attorney general of the United States and Pam Bondi is about to be in the hot seat, expected to face questions, some tough questions from senators shortly.

And leading the way for Democrats, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He joins us now. Senator, thank you for being here.

I have excerpts, pieces from your opening remarks for today's hearing and something that sticks out for sure is this, "I need to know you would tell President Trump, 'No' if you are faced with a choice between your oath to the Constitution and your loyalty to Mr. Trump."

If Pam Bondi says she will be independent from Donald Trump and will tell him no, will you believe her?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Well, it depends, Kate, it's one of those situations where Pam Bondi has legal qualifications for the job. There's no question about it. But the real question is whether or not shell say no to Donald Trump and we have reason to raise a question.

In his first term in office, Donald Trump took two of his attorneys general who he thought were disloyal and fired them on the spot.

So, if you say to Donald Trump what you're suggesting is wrong, illegal or unconstitutional, unfortunately you can lose your job.

BOLDUAN: We've heard her say she has said publicly in the past things like, we're going to investigate the investigators. I mean, is there anything that she can say today to convince you that is not the case?

[08:25:06]

If she says today that -- if she's asked to go after Donald Trump's political enemies, she will not. It's kind of the same question, Senator, what gets you to a place of believing her?

DURBIN: Well, it's obvious, she's going to be under oath and we'll be asking the questions. And you have to decide whether she's credible.

She is legally qualified, there's no doubt about it. Ten years as attorney general in Florida and a good legal background. But this really is a question.

And, you know, I'll ask her some basic questions on some MAGA dogma. For example, did Trump actually win or lose the election in 2020? As his lawyer, she said he didn't lose, but I think the facts have shown otherwise. Did she learn anything from that experience? Is she willing to tell us that he lost that election? There are questions like that that need to be asked and answered under oath.

BOLDUAN: That will be interesting because she helped spearhead the legal efforts against the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania after that, we do know that. So that will be an interesting line of inquiry for sure.

She is, as you know, and everyone does. She is the second choice that Donald Trump has made for attorney general, the first being Matt Gaetz. How different do you think today would be? And would even this discussion right now be if you were considering the confirmation of Matt Gaetz today?

DURBIN: Matt Gaetz was a disastrous choice. When you consider that man's history in public service. Some of the things he's done personally, the fact that he would even be considered for the highest law enforcement position in the United States is incredible. I understand it was a spur of the moment decision by Donald Trump, not the first, I'm sure, nor the last to put him in this key position. Thank goodness he's out of the running. He was not qualified for the job, and he would have been an embarrassment.

BOLDUAN: This will be a huge day today. You leading the way before the committee for Democrats. And we'll be taking that live when it begins about an hour from now.

There's also Marco Rubio heading in this morning for his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state, different committee. You've announced that you are going to be voting in support of Marco Rubio's nomination. Why, Senator?

DURBIN: I've known him for 14 years. We've worked on a myriad of issues, including immigration reform, dealing with Venezuela.

He came by to see me in my office yesterday. We talked about some more cases we've worked on together. I believe that his views are different than mine on some issues, but I am not naive. I understand that my party lost the last presidential election. I think Marco Rubio is qualified to fill this important historic job, and I'm going to support him.

BOLDUAN: Just quickly going back, I was just thinking about the attorney general, that role, and the Department of Justice in general. Do you think that agency is the one that Donald Trump do expect to try to exert the most influence over? If so, what does that mean for the oversight responsibility of the Senate Judiciary in the next administration?

DURBIN: Well, let's, you know, the bottom line is it isn't just Pam Bondi who's been nominated, there's Kash Patel, a man that they're suggesting should serve as the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the most powerful investigative body in the world.

And he has published books with lists of his political enemies that he wants to go after, the gangsters in the government. And that's a long list, 60 names, including some prominent political figures in the American scene.

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the Department of Justice. I sincerely hope the Republicans and majority in the Senate feel the same way.

BOLDUAN: You know, I've heard, even speaking to Senator Angus King, he says, as a former governor, he knows that you should be -- an executive, should be able to have the Cabinet, the team around him that they want, that they believe will help them serve the most effectively.

Speaking of Kash Patel, if he wants Kash Patel to head up the FBI, I mean, is there something you think Kash Patel could say to convince you to support him?

DURBIN: Well, he has quite a handful of responsibilities to answer questions. I can tell you. He put it in a book. I mean, he published it. It wasn't a casual statement off the cuff, a list of his 60 political enemies that he would go after.

He talked about taking the FBI headquarters here in Washington and closing it down and turning it into a museum. What in the world is going on here? You want to give this man the authority to investigate every level of government and society in America? He is not a responsible person for that job.

BOLDUAN: Knowing these roles, they have to make it through your committee first before they can get anywhere near the Cabinet and the White House and this is the first big day, as you were about to kick off these confirmation hearings for the attorney general and Pam Bondi, we'll be watching. Senator Dick Durbin, thank you -- John.

DURBIN: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, breaking news this morning, 170 million Americans are in for a rude awakening in just four days, as TikTok makes plans to shut down, completely shut down the app for all US users.

And new criticism this morning from prison reform advocates as more than 1,000 inmates in California are on the frontlines fighting the wildfires.

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