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Biden: "This is One of the Toughest" Negotiations of my Career; Hamas and Israel Agree to Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Senate Confirmation Hearings for Trump Cabinet Picks. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:39]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Welcome back for more breaking news on this incredible day. Just days before he leaves the White House, President Biden hailed what he called one of the toughest diplomatic negotiations in his decades-long career, a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that will pause the fighting in Gaza and release some of the remaining hostages there.

In the first of three phases, Hamas will release 33 hostages, including some Americans abducted during the brutal, deadly terror attack on Israel 15 months ago. In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Jubilation and celebration are happening right now on the streets of both Israel and Gaza, a little bit more subdued, as you see there, in Israel.

As for President Biden, he applauded his team for reaching the agreement after more than six months of work on this very framework. He also credited negotiators for Donald Trump, who was five days from taking office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This deal was developed and negotiated under my administration, but its terms will be implemented, for the most part, by the next administration. In these past few days, we've been speaking as one team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: We're covering this from all angles, all across the globe. I want to start here in Washington at the White House. MJ Lee is there.

MJ, you have some new reporting on which American hostages will be released. What are you hearing?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dana. Obviously, one of the biggest reasons this deal was so important for President Biden to try to get done before he left office was because of the promise he had made to bring home the American hostages who have been held in Gaza. And he did confirm in those remarks earlier that Americans would be among those released in the first phase of this six-week ceasefire, though he didn't go into details.

My colleague, Jenny Hansler, and I can now report that two American hostages, they are Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen. They are going to be on the list. They are on the list of the initial wave of hostages that will be released as a part of this six-week phase ceasefire.

Now, as a reminder, seven Americans, we're looking at their faces on the screen right now, seven American hostages are in Gaza. Four of them have been declared dead. And Keith and Sagui are among those three who have been presumed alive this entire time.

So, Dana, I know you have covered these American hostages and their families more closely than almost anybody else. It is going to be a real moment of celebration, certainly for these families, who finally will hopefully get to be reunited with their loved ones. It is also going to be a very, very tough moment for some of the other American families and the Israeli families, of course, as well whose loved ones are not going to be returned.

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I know you spoke with Ruby Chen earlier in the day, the father of Itay. He is not believed to be on this list, for example. So, again, I think we just - should be measured as - we are talking about the jubilation and the sense of celebration that this deal has finally come together. There is so much about this that is going to be so tough still for so many people who have just been waiting in anguish for so many months.

Now, just quickly, politically speaking, I should just note, you know, this has been an interesting moment of two presidents, the current president, Joe Biden, and the incoming president, Donald Trump, both taking credit for this deal coming together. President Trump actually made his remarks on Truth Social, taking credit for this deal coming together, saying, essentially, this only happened because I am coming into office before we even heard directly from President Biden.

But all of this underscores that this agreement coming together, at least on the U.S. side, has involved Biden officials working alongside Trump officials to try to hammer out these final details. So, a really sort of remarkable moment in the last final week of President Biden being in office. He only has five days left. Being able to make this speech and deliver the good news. This was a speech and news that President Biden had hoped to deliver, for well over a year now. And he finally got to deliver that news to the American people.

BASH: Yes. And I want to turn to a negotiator in one second. But, MJ, you - since - I don't want to lose sight of the news that you just broke, which is that there are two Americans who have been held hostage by Hamas for 460 days, who are, according to your reporting, expected to be released. They are - and you're looking at the screen there. I'll tell you who they are. Keith Siegel, who's the first. He is 60 years old. He's a North Carolina native. He is expected, according to MJ's reporting, to come out in this first phase. And then, all the way on the right, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35 years old, is also expected to be.

I just want to also, if you saw there, Edan Alexander. We have spoken to his family many, many times. He is in the IDF and is believed to be alive, as you see there. His parents have been - as all of these hostage families have, particularly the Americans, very much in touch with the administration and have known that if this would be implemented, which again, as the President said, was ready to go since May, that their son, Edan, who is now 20, would not be part of phase one, but they hope will eventually be out as part of phase two.

Thank you so much, MJ. Really appreciate your reporting.

I do want to turn now to talk more about the diplomacy that led to this with the former hostage negotiator, Gershon Baskin, who has worked with Hamas in the past. Thank you so much for being here.

Just your overall takeaway in knowing how difficult this is and seeing how this is playing out right now.

GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: I just - I want to say that I never worked with Hamas, but I did negotiate with Hamas, both unofficially and officially. Just to clear that up, I don't work with Hamas.

This is a deal that was on the table since May, and it was done now because Donald Trump is coming into the White House, and he told his buddy, Prime Minister Netanyahu, to get it done to end the war. Hamas was reluctant to enter into this deal that was on the table since May because there was no commitment from Israel to end the war in phase one.

I believe that that commitment has been given by President Trump to the Qataris and the Egyptians who gave it to Hamas. Otherwise, there's no explanation why Hamas agreed to the deal entering into the first 42 days without a guarantee that the war would end in the second 42-day period.

Now, it's a deal that has to be done, and it's a bad deal, but it's better than no deal. It's a bad deal because it will take months to implement. It won't bring all the hostages home immediately. There are many opportunities for this to be derailed, and nonetheless, this is what's on the table, and this is what we have to deal with.

It also is lacking any kind of political determination of the future of Gaza on the day after this war. What needs to be done politically is ensuring that Hamas doesn't govern Gaza anymore. This is certainly the will of the Palestinian people in Gaza because they know that there will be no reconstruction there if Hamas remains in power. No one will put a single dollar into Gaza if Hamas is in power. And there are two million homeless people now whose homes have been destroyed. The infrastructure has been destroyed.

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It's a tragic reality in Gaza that will take years to repair.

So, this is just the beginning of a new phase in the life of Israelis and Palestinians, and we really have to move beyond this war and understand that we can't keep doing this.

BASH: Yes, I mean, as good as this news is, you laid out so many of the pitfalls and the realities that are going to be in the way in the next couple of days as we see this. I also want to say, you, of course, don't work with Hamas, and thank you for correcting my inartful way of explaining that. It's been a long afternoon.

BASKIN: I knew it.

BASH: Just on the whole question of not a penny going into Gaza as long as Hamas is in charge, I mean, that it seems to me and this isn't rocket science here that I'm kind of coming up with this, but when you look back at the months, and months, and months of negotiations, Hamas being in charge is one of the key sticking points here, because Hamas, you know, usually when you have a war and then there's a ceasefire, the ceasefire comes because one side is defeated and waves the white flag. Hamas has never been waving the white flag.

They have been - and Alex Marquardt here reminded me that Tony Blinken said just yesterday that they're reconstituting despite the fact that they have been really crippled because of the Israeli bombardment. So, as a negotiator, how do you square that circle?

BASKIN: Well, you have to realize that in modern wars, there are no victors. There is no one side which is defeated or admits defeat and waves a white flag. It doesn't happen anymore. In this Gaza-Israel war, there are no winners here. There are only losers, and both sides have lost tremendously. Both the Israelis are experiencing the biggest trauma for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And the Palestinians, I believe the trauma that they're facing is worse than what they faced in 1948, what they called the Nakba, the catastrophe.

So, there are no winners here, but the realization is that there is no armed struggle which is viable to free Palestine. This is something the Palestinian people need to understand and conclude. And the Israelis have to understand that there is no military solution to this conflict. There is only a political diplomatic solution.

The world is getting together. Just today in Oslo, 90 countries - a global alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution. The two-state solution is back here. We need to get rid of our leaders that are ruling us here in Israel and in Palestine because they have failed us for too many years. We need new leaders to come out of this tragedy of this war. And the victory will be when the people of Israel and the people of Palestine look each other in the face and say, you are here and you have a right to be here.

Seven million Israeli Jews, seven million Palestinian Arabs living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and no one's going anywhere. We have to make sure that this is the last war. That would be the victory.

BASH: That sounds a lot like utopia, but you know what? Let's go for it. Why not?

BASKIN: No one believed a month ago (INAUDIBLE) ...

BASH: And that is true.

BASKIN: ... (INAUDIBLE) ...

BASH: Fair - very fair point. Gershon Baskin, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

BASKIN: Thank you.

BASH: President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, meanwhile, as all of this was happening, wrapped up nearly six hours of testimony. We're going to look at what has been going on in that confirmation hearing after a quick break.

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BASH: Welcome back. We are going to return to some domestic politics now. It has been a very busy day on Capitol Hill. Some of President- elect Trump's cabinet picks faced questions from senators. Wrapping up moments ago was the confirmation hearing for Pam Bondi, who is vying to be the nation's top prosecutor, the Attorney General of the United States.

She is Florida's former attorney general, a close Trump ally who joined his legal defense during his first impeachment, and was behind him when he challenged the election in 2020. Here's how Bondi responded when she was pressed about whether she would enforce a enemies list at the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: ... when you do.

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): And I'm questioning you right now about whether you will enforce an enemies list that he announced publicly on television.

BONDI: Oh, Senator, I'm sorry. There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That was a question about Kash Patel, the president's nominee for the FBI. You see there on the screen, we've also been watching lawmakers ask questions of Marco Rubio, Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of State, and John Ratcliffe, who is up for CIA director.

Our correspondents are covering all of these developments, very high- stakes hearings.

Manu, I want to start with you on Capitol Hill.

What are you hearing from Republicans generally on how these are going? And then specifically, if you will, how Marco Rubio's hearing went?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very positive. In fact, the Republicans are confident that it - all of these nominees who have been gone through their confirmation hearings so far will get confirmed and that they believe that they maybe even be able to pick up some Democratic support for some of these key nominees. Marco Rubio, you mentioned, this has been a very bipartisan affair from the beginning, naming a senator. Typically, you - a senator gets confirmed by his fellow senators pretty easily, and this will be no different.

[15:20:05]

We expect a wide bipartisan support for his nomination.

This could be one of the first, if not the first, nominations to be confirmed by the United States Senate as early as next week when Donald Trump officially takes office. But then Pam Bondi as well, even though she did have some intense exchanges with some Democratic members on the committee, including the ranking Democrat, Dick Durbin, as well as on - down the line to the freshman, Adam Schiff, there were some positive signs for her on the Democratic side of the aisle.

I caught up with one Democratic senator, Peter Welch of Vermont, who told me that she - he did a - that she - he believes that Bondi did a, quote, "good job." And he suggested that he could be open to voting for her. Cory Booker, too, the New Jersey Democrat, didn't rule out voting for her as well. He said that he was still reviewing some of the things that she had said.

So, there are some signs that perhaps she could potentially get bipartisan support as well. There are some controversial picks also going through hearings today, including Russ Vought, who's the head of the White House Budget Office. He was picked to be in that position that was - one of the most powerful positions in government. He is very conservative. He has conservative views and Democrats are concerned about some of the things that he wants to do in terms of the federal regulations as well as cutting spending and the like.

So how does he ultimately do in winning bipartisan support? That may be a little bit harder, but they don't need bipartisan support, Dana, as you well know. A simple majority is enough in the United States Senate that is controlled 53-47 by the GOP right now. It should be enough to get most, if not all, of these nominees confirmed, potentially as soon as, many of them, as soon as next week, Dana.

BASH: Yes, really amazing. Manu, thank you so much.

BASH: Now, I do want to go to Paula Reid.

Paula, the fireworks today inside the Pam Bondi hearing, I would say - and you correct me if I'm wrong, I had to peel off after about a couple of hours because of the breaking news out of the Middle East, but it wasn't so much about her qualifications. Democrat after Democrat who I heard said, you have the qualifications for the job. It's based on her background and experience. The questions were about how she approaches her job, given the fact that Donald Trump would be her boss in the White House. And there - a lot of frustration, I heard, from Democrats that she wouldn't answer specifically, separate from that, whether or not Joe Biden won the 2020 election. She just said over and over, "Joe Biden is president."

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. The one thing that everybody in the room seemed to agree on is that Bondi is qualified for this job coming to today's confirmation hearing with decades of experience as a state prosecutor, including eight years as the state's first female attorney general. But Bondi's challenge today was convincing skeptical Republicans that she would be able to resist the kind of pressure that President-elect Trump has applied on his previous attorneys general, like Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, when he wanted to use the Justice Department for his own aims.

Now, Bondi tried to convince lawmakers that there would be no enemies list, that she would not pursue people because of their political affiliation. She even when asked about if she would investigate former special counsel Jack Smith. She insisted that he is, quote, "not been prejudged."

But some of the most heated exchanges were about comments she made about the 2020 election. Let's take a listen to one of those exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONDI: President Biden is the President of the United States. He was duly sworn in and he is the President of the United States. There was a peaceful transition of power. President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024. I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is President of the United States. But what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for the campaign. I was an advocate for the campaign and I was on the ground in Pennsylvania and I saw many things there. But do I accept the results? Of course, I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So, Democrats kept returning to this issue, trying to get her to say that Trump lost the 2020 election, something she would not say.

Now, Republicans were more focused on her resume and some of the other important work that the Justice Department does. At this point, she appears likely to sail through confirmation. But Dana, one of the big surprises out of this hearing was how many questions she got about Kash Patel, Trump's pick to lead the FBI. We expected one or two questions, but she was asked to weigh in on his enemies' list, his plans to dismantle parts of the FBI and his alleged support for QAnon.

Now, she deferred to him on all those questions, but the fact that she got so many suggests that his path to confirmation won't be so smooth.

BASH: Yes, that's exactly right. And the fundamental question that these Democrats clearly wanted answered, and I'm not sure that they, for the most part, felt totally satisfied, is will she follow the rule of law or will she follow Donald Trump if and when he says to do something that doesn't follow the rule of law?

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Paula, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And when we come back, much more of our coverage on the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Stay with us.

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[15:29:58]

BASH: Back to our breaking news coverage, a ceasefire and hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas with the first phase set to take effect this Sunday.