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President Biden Allows Ukraine Use of Long-Range Missiles; Gaetz Nomination Bothers Washington; Hezbollah Spokesperson Killed in Israeli Strike; Second Israeli Strike in Beirut Kills 2 and Injures 13 People; Ultra-Orthodox Jews Protest Against Mandatory Draft Order; World Leaders Gather In Rio De Janeiro; Biden Urges Next Administration To Continue Climate Fight; Elon Musk Embracing New Role As Trump's "First Buddy". Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 18, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, a policy U-turn from the White House as President Biden gives the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to hit targets inside Russia. But will it actually be a game changer on the battlefield?

Some of Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks are coming under more fire in Washington.

And Israeli airstrikes pound Beirut killing a Hezbollah spokesperson while talks continue on a possible ceasefire.

Good to have you with us. First this hour, a major change in U.S. policy at a critical time in Russia's war on Ukraine. President Joe Biden, for the first time, is allowing Kyiv to use long-range U.S. weapons to strike deeper inside Russia. The decision had been under consideration for months as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed Washington for the green light in hopes of gaining momentum in the war.

But U.S. officials have been divided and concerned it could escalate the conflict. The weapons, which are said to have a range of about 190 miles, are expected to be used primarily in Russia's Kursk region for now. That's where Russian forces are looking to take back territory alongside North Korean troops who've joined the Russian offensive. President Zelensky y had this message after news of the U.S. decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Today there's a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions. But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves. They certainly will. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All this coming as Russia launched its largest aerial attack in months, targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Sunday's strikes across Ukraine killed at least five people, triggered blackouts and caused widespread damage.

This decision by President Biden comes with just two months left in office and with a lot of uncertainty about future U.S. support for Ukraine when Donald Trump returns to the White House. More now from CNN's Nick Payton Walsh.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ultimately, it's not clear what impact this decision is going to have on the battlefield. There simply aren't enough of these attacks and longer range U.S. precision missiles to make a huge impact on Russia overnight. And that I think is one of the elements of the U.S. decision making process. They weren't really going to be able to give enough to Ukraine to hugely change the battlefield.

What is hugely important though, is the amount of time in which President Joe Biden said he simply didn't want to make this decision because of how escalatory the introduction of these weapons would be. Well, here he's made a complete volte-face and said, okay, I'm going to introduce this technology and allow Ukraine to hit deeper inside of Russia.

Now, I should point out that Ukraine in the gap while waiting for the White House to make its mind up has been developing longer range drones and they've been quite successful at hitting various airports parts of Russian energy infrastructure, wreaking havoc frankly at a pretty low cost and indeed it's a program that the U.S. decided to try and assist and fund according to some reports because it was doing quite so well.

But the symbolic nature of this is what is so entirely key. They won't necessarily have enough missiles to make a big difference but this gets the United States deeper involved in Ukraine's war at an utterly key time. The White House is saying this is a response to Russia's escalation of introducing North Korean troops into the fight most likely to retake the Kursk region that Ukraine invaded back in August, but ultimately, we are seeing here the Biden administration and its closing months taking this significant step.

Now it will likely complicate the life of Donald Trump, potentially. He can reverse this decision when he becomes president on January the 20th in a matter of hours. But it certainly puts the U.S. deeper inside this war and potentially will make the Kremlin, maybe anger it and demand more at the negotiating table. This also follows a very familiar pattern for the Biden administration when they turn to their aid they've been giving to Ukraine.

[02:04:55]

We've seen with the HIMARS precision missile, with the Abrams tank, with the F-16 jet, all things Ukraine has asked for, for months and then been told by the White House they can't have them. Allies, have stepped forward and publicly and privately briefed how much they want this technology to be given to Ukraine and then ultimately, almost when perhaps Ukraine is given up asking, that technology is furnished to Kyiv. It's exactly the same story with these ATACMS.

Now, we are in an utterly key moment here. These new missiles may not change the battlefield. In fact there have been some suggestions by U.S. officials that key attack aircraft, these missiles may have been aimed at, have moved out of their range deeper inside of Russia, although some analysts have presented a long list of targets they could still potentially hit. In the next two to three months we're going to see Ukraine and Russia throw everything they can to put themselves potentially in the best position on the battlefield ahead of the Trump administration.

We don't know Trump's plan. We do know he thinks he can end the conflict in 24 hours. We do know that many of his top national security picks are not a fan of the endless assistance that NATO currently thinks it wants to provide Ukraine. So change is most likely coming and there's been much of the week talking to officials in European capitals about what that may indeed mean for the Western alliance behind Ukraine going forwards.

But we're going to see now these attacks and longer range missiles, part of the bid to give Ukraine a better hand ahead of any talks that may indeed come next year. But battlefield changing so fast at this point in Russia's favor, we are looking for some very stark months ahead. Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, London.

CHURCH: Jill Dougherty is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a former CNN Moscow bureau chief. She joins me now from Washington. Good to have you with us.

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Hey Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, U.S. President Joe Biden made a major policy change Sunday by approving Ukraine's use of powerful long-range U.S. weapons inside Russia. How significant is this decision and what impact might it have on the battlefield, do you think?

DOUGHERTY: It's extremely significant. After all, the administration has never allowed this. They actually have allowed these long-range missiles to be used within Ukraine to fight Russians but they've never allowed the Ukrainians to use them to strike inside Russia and that is what apparently now will be happening.

Now, will it change the war? I mean, everybody who is an expert in the, you know, military expert is saying probably not. There are some questions, you know, especially about how many weapons there actually are that Ukraine could use. They are very expensive. It takes quite a while to produce them. Ukraine only apparently has a few. Actually, even the United States, some here in the United States, say that the United States could be limited in the amount that it could provide.

So, there are questions, but it is no issue here that this is a major decision by Biden and it comes at a critical time. I mean, you have a new incoming U.S. president. You have Putin warning that a step like this would -- there would be retaliation for a step like this. So it's really quite a dramatic time in this war.

CHURCH: Yeah, and I do want to talk about the timing in just a moment, but President Vladimir Putin, he did make it very clear three weeks ago, and you alluded to this, that if Ukraine ever uses U.S. long-range weapons to hit inside Russia's territory, that action would amount to an attack from NATO or the U.S. directly on Russia and would represent a major escalation. What could this mean in terms of Russia's previous threats to use nuclear weapons?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that is the calculus. That's what's been keeping, I think, the Biden administration from taking this step, because Putin has made it very clear. This is a red line, he says for him. And yet there have been other lines that have been crossed, you know, this kind of incremental policy by Biden saying that Ukraine can't use certain weapons and then later saying that they can.

And at each moment of, you know, incremental movement -- excuse me -- you know, Putin has not used nuclear weapons, even though he's, of course, threatened. But he hasn't really taken the steps that the United States was worried about that he might take. So I think the feeling is it's not going to happen, and this is important for the United States to do for Ukraine at this particular moment.

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CHURCH: Yeah, and all this, of course, comes, as you pointed out, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January, with plans to end this war, he says he can, through likely territorial concessions on the part of Ukraine. What is your reaction to the timing of this decision by President Biden just two months before a new administration comes in making all of these promises?

DOUGHERTY: Yeah, that really is a question. If you look at what the Trump people are saying right now, at least some of them close to Trump are saying, this is war-mongering, it's creating problems for the incoming administration. And I actually looked at some Russian media, and they're saying much the same, that this is an attempt to damage or make it very difficult for incoming President Trump.

Now, ultimately there are others, though, even Republicans, who are saying this step was long overdue, that the Ukrainians have been fighting essentially with their arm tied behind their backs. And so that's the debate right now. But there's no question that with just two months to go, it does leave Trump with probably an escalated war. And we don't know whether, you know, exactly what Trump will do. But up until now, he's been saying he wants that, obviously, to stop. So we have, again, a dramatic moment, actually, two months from now as well.

CHURCH: Jill Dougherty, we appreciate you joining us and sharing your analysis. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Sure. CHURCH: Exiled Russian opposition leaders including Yulia Navalnaya,

the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-murza rallied in Berlin on Sunday. They're calling for an end to the war in Ukraine.

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CHURCH: Thousands took part of the march to show that there are many Russians who disagree with the war, but can't voice their opinions because of oppression in their native land. The protest ended at the Russian embassy with protesters holding out signs reading "Putin is a Killer" and "No Peace Under Russian Occupation."

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ILYA YASHIN, EXILED RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN (through translation): I am very glad that everyone saw that there are many Russians who do not support Putin's policies, who demand the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, who express solidarity with political prisoners. It was very important for us to show that there are many of us. It is very important to show our ability to consolidate and show that we are a real political force.

VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, EXILED RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN (through translation): We are here today not only on our own behalf, but also on behalf of a huge number of our compatriots who are in Russia and who today do not have the opportunity to go to a rally or a march like this, because for the slightest demonstration of protest in Russia today they give a long-term prison sentence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Anti-war demonstrators also gathered in Rome to mark the thousand-day anniversary of Russia's war on Ukraine. They called for an end to the war and emphasized the need for a just peace.

Well, here in the United States, President-elect Donald Trump continues to name the people he wants in top positions for his second term in office. Late Sunday, he announced current Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is his choice to become the agency's new chairman. Notably, the group's job is to regulate communications amid more than a dozen calls from Trump to revoke licenses from major television networks.

But the controversial selection that has much of Washington talking is still the choice of former House Republican Matt Gaetz for attorney general. CNN's Steve Contorno has the latest.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Donald Trump enters his second full week as president-elect with questions still remaining about some of the early picks for his incoming administration, especially around Matt Gaetz, his choice for attorney general. There are questions as to whether or not senators will get to see the results of an ethics investigation into alleged sexual misconduct. Speaker Mike Johnson on State of the Union on Sunday discussing his views on whether or not senators should be able to see that report. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE JOHNSON, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: The President and I have literally not discussed one word about the ethics report. Not once. And I've been with him quite a bit this week between Washington and Mar-a-Lago and last night in Madison Square Garden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Even as Republicans on the Hill speak out against Matt Gaetz and raise concerns over whether he can get the 51 votes needed for confirmation, there are already signs that some Republicans are moving toward yes. Senator Markwayne Mullin, for example, of Oklahoma, he has previously voiced his displeasure with Gaetz. At one point, he said Gaetz showed him videos on the House floor of, quote, "the girls he had slept with," but now he says Gaetz should have a fair shot.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): I've got a tough situation that I've got to set my personal opinions and they're really not opinions. I've got to set my personal situation with Matt to the side and look at the facts. If he's qualified, he's qualified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: After spending some time in New York this weekend where he watched a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden, Donald Trump will remain in Palm Beach at his Mar-a-Lago estate as he continues to fill out his cabinet. He still has to choose a Treasury Secretary, as well as Secretaries for Commerce, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Education. Steve Contorno, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

CHURCH: And earlier I spoke with Larry Sabato, the Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, about whether Donald Trump's nominations will actually be approved by lawmakers. He says there could be some major barriers in the way. Here is part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: The most important number is 53. Not 53 cadet officers, but 53 Republicans in the Senate. And the Senate does the confirming. Now, some have talked about recess appointments, but tonight, if the reports are accurate, Mitch McConnell, who is the now ex-Senate majority leader but still has enormous influence on the Republicans in the Senate, has sent a message to President Trump saying there will be no recess appointments.

Now, I don't know whether he can carry that out, no longer being Senate Majority Leader. But if you can't appoint some of these people in the recess provision, it's going to be very difficult to get a majority of Republicans to vote in favor of them because there are three, four, maybe even five Republicans who are in states that are competitive enough. so that it's a real danger for these senators to vote for candidates that are very controversial. And this is a record number, record number of controversial appointments to any president's cabinet.

CHURCH: And Larry, right now Donald Trump is determined to see Matt Gaetz confirmed as his attorney general despite some Republicans calling Gaetz's behavior abhorrent. House Speaker Mike Johnson is strongly advising against releasing the ethics report on Gaetz. So how likely is it that we will ever see that report?

SABATO: I don't know if we'll see it, but I have a hard time believing that the Republicans in the Senate won't see it. I think it will be leaked one way or the other. They'll work out something like they do with intelligence reports where you have to go into a room and you can't take any photographic material and you can read the report and then you leave, maybe something like that.

But there's no way the Republicans in the Senate are going to forgo reading that. And the Democrats want to read it too, but of course they will be inevitably outraged, maybe they should be, by whatever's in there. The Republicans want it to protect themselves.

CHURCH: And many critics view some of these Trump cabinet picks as a threat to the United States, particularly as the Trump team is now suggesting that some of these selections will not receive FBI background checks, Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard among them. Now Gabbard would be working with this country's top secret. So if she and the others are confirmed, what damage could they potentially cause to this country?

SABATO: Well, it's a big question mark and people ought to be concerned, because Gabbard is potentially a threat on the intelligence side. Robert Kennedy is a potential threat on the domestic health side. And then the others, well, Matt Gaetz would be a threat in terms of justice, I suppose. And we could go right down the line. Now, there are some establishment favorites. Marco Rubio will have no trouble at all getting confirmed as Secretary of State. And there are a few others like that, the governor of North Dakota is going to be confirmed as Interior Secretary.

But you have a concentration of controversial people. And I almost think that Trump has done that because there's safety in numbers, and he's appointing enough very controversial nominees, knowing that Republicans can't possibly turn them all down. They really can't, because the Trump base would revolt against them. So, in a sense, there is some protection for all of these people because of the number of controversial candidates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And you can see my full conversation with Larry Sabato next hour right here on CNN. Still to come, Israel kills a key Hezbollah figure in a strike on Beirut, even as efforts continue to try to reach a ceasefire. We'll have that and more in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, for the first time, the Israeli military said Sunday it's using artillery batteries inside Lebanese territory. The IDF says this will expand the scope of shelling as Israel ramps up its offensive in Lebanon. It comes on the same day that Israeli forces killed Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammed Afif in a strike on Beirut. CNN's Nic Robertson explains how this move could impact ongoing ceasefire talks.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Mohammed Afif was a very significant figure in Hezbollah, not a military commander, a keen and close advisor to their leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in that massive Israeli airstrike on the 28th of September, subsequent to Nasrallah's killing. He'd become a much more sort of publicly engaged figure. He had been running the Al-Manar TV station, which was Hezbollah's mouthpiece in Lebanon, but he'd given several press conferences over recent months.

He was a fairly accessible figure to the media, if you will. Why he has been killed now isn't clear. And of course, this does come at a time when Lebanese government officials just a couple of days ago had told CNN they expected Hezbollah to answer their decision about whether or not they would accept a U.S. proposal ceasefire with Israel.

[02:25:03]

That decision was expected in the coming days by Monday even. Whether or not this was intended to have some effect on Hezbollah's decision making here of course not uncommon for a sort of high level assassinations, these sort of last minute maneuvers if you will ahead of ceasefire deals and whether or not this will have an impact on that ceasefire deal isn't clear. The conditions of the ceasefire according to sources I've been talking to had told me that they were difficult for Hezbollah to accept, but it appeared to them at least that Hezbollah was moving in that direction.

The assassination attempt, or the assassination rather, killing him, injuring three others, and that was the fourth attack since 2006, the fourth attack in the center of Beirut. But only hours after there was another attack, not clear as yet who or what the target may have been there. But these rounds of strikes in the center of Beirut are real upping of the ante, if you will, in this conflict with Hezbollah. Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.

CHURCH: Lebanon's Health Ministry says that second Israeli attack on central Beirut Sunday killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen others. No evacuation warnings were given before the strike, which hit a densely populated Sunni majority neighborhood. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

Meanwhile Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 50 people were killed in Israeli strikes in northern Gaza on Sunday. Video of the aftermath shows children panicking with some crying in the background and a toddler covered in blood. A local journalist says dozens of Palestinians displaced by Israel's operation in nearby Jabalia were sheltering in two of the houses that were hit.

Ultra-orthodox Jews clashed with police during a protest over military service near Tel Aviv on Sunday.

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Israel's defense ministry says community members will receive call-up notices as the country continues its war efforts. But ultra-orthodox leaders believe forcing their young men to serve alongside secular Israelis, including women, could hurt their religious identity. And some say they would rather die than join the army.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YONA KAYE, STUDENT: Our youth are demonstrating because the Israeli government want to include our religious people to the army. Our history is full of Jews who have given up their lives in order to remain religious. Our youths over here, our boys, young men over here are saying exactly the same. We will die. We will stay extended periods of time in jail but not go to the Israeli army, which means becoming religious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Israel's Supreme Court ruled in June that the defense ministry could no longer allow Jewish seminary students to receive blanket exemptions from military service.

World leaders are in Rio de Janeiro for a meeting of the G20 group of nations, with uncertainty looming in the face of a new U.S. administration. That story after the break.

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[02:31:52]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone.

World leaders are in Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Summit. Heads of state plan to address issues from poverty and hunger to reforming global institutions, as well as climate change. This as U.S. President Joe Biden's final appearance at the meeting, and there's speculation about how the Trump administration will handle international issues.

For more, we go live now to Marc Stewart, who is in Beijing.

Good to see you, Marc. So how is Beijing approaching this G20 summit, especially given Donald Trump looms large over all of it, creating a lot of global uncertainty?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rosemary. Good morning.

No question. A very full agenda at the G20, but it is the sideline meetings. These private meetings where Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other Chinese diplomats are expected to make their mark and portray China as a go-to nation for stability amid, as you mentioned, this uncertain political landscape that is developing in the United States. In fact, we heard from one observer from a think tank who said, this is a chance for China to really promote ideals of peace and development. Part of this bigger theme that we've often talked about for China to create almost a wedge between the United States and its allies.

It's something that we have already seen. In fact, it was just last week, Xi Jinping was in Peru for APEC. Before that summit even began, he was part of an unveiling, a ribbon cutting of a new port in Peru, of which China contributed, contributed being the world's second largest economy a way for it to show its strength both politically and certainly economically.

Rosemary, we'll see a lot of world leaders this week. We are expecting to see the prime ministers of Australia, India, as well as the United Kingdom and, of course, American President Joe Biden.

CHURCH: And, Marc, what about the talks between President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping? Does Beijing have a better sense of U.S.-China relations with Trump taking office?

STEWART: Well, there's certainly a lot of mystique. I think the future, it's fair to say, is murky about what this new U.S.-China relationship will look like. But China certainly doing what it can from a diplomatic standpoint, to send a message through this current (AUDIO GAP) cooperation and mutual -- mutual coexistence, mutual benefit. It's hoped that these optics will send a message to the incoming Trump administration that China wants to continue many of these diplomatic channels that have seen some strength and have seen some growth under the Biden administration, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Marc Stewart, bringing us a live report from Beijing. Appreciate it.

Well, on his way to the G20, President Biden made an historic stop in the Amazon, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.

[02:35:00]

During his visit, he urged the incoming administration to continue to embrace the economic progress offered by a clean energy revolution. Stefano Pozzebon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: President Biden used his visit to Manaus, at the heart of the Amazon forest, to urge the President-elect Donald Trump to do more to protect the environment which he said it was a defining part of his presidency.

Biden announced millions of dollars in increased funding for reforestation and for protecting the Amazon, saying that the fight to protect the planet is literally the fight for humanity. He also pointed to two key legislative initiatives to protect the environment that he was across from the first debt for nature swaps back in the 1970s, passed by the Congress when he was a senator to the more recent Inflation Reduction Act, which the president said created hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's no secret that I'm leaving office in January. I will have my -- I will leave my successor and my country in a strong foundation to build on if they choose to do so. It's true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that's underway in America, but nobody, nobody can reverse it. Nobody, not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits.

POZZEBON: But the prospect of the incoming president-elect was a constant shadow throughout Biden's visit, which came at a moment when the Amazon is battling a historic drought, which is in part due to climate change and human made global warming. The president could see the damage as he flew over the river on his helicopter.

Donald Trump himself is a staunch climate denier, and he has vowed to reverse Biden's policies on oil and gas exploration. We don't need to choose between the economy and the environment, Biden said. We can do both.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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[02:40:22]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

French farmers are protesting a possible trade deal between the EU and a block of South American countries. I want to bring up some live pictures here? Just near Paris, in fact, you can see there the farmers are using tractors to block this road. They claim cheaper agricultural imports are not subject to the same standards as domestic produce in France, making the situation more difficult for the French farmers. Rain has damaged harvests and disease has hit livestock. The South American trade group includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.

Well, the Spanish scrabble world championship has a new winner, and it is a man who does not speak a word of Spanish. New Zealander Nigel Richards won the prize on Saturday by memorizing Spanish words. Now, remarkably, the 57 year old pulled off a similar feat two other times when he won the French language scrabble world championship despite not speaking a word of French.

So reports say he memorized a French scrabble dictionary in just nine weeks. Richards does very well in English, too. No surprise there, winning that world championship five times. I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For

our international viewers, world sport is coming up next. And for those of you here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:46:50]

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church.

Former U.S. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he and Elon Musk have big plans to cut government spending and rein in Washington. Ramaswamy spoke with Fox News on Sunday, saying Americans may be surprised by how efficiently the country could run with tightened purse strings.

Here's what he had to say about the sweeping cuts he and Musk want to make.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Elon and I are in this for the credit, but I think we're going to build the consensus to make the kind of deep cuts that haven't been made for most of our history.

INTERVIEWER: Are you expecting to close down entire agencies like President Trump has talked about the Department of Education, for example? Are you going to be closing down departments?

RAMASWAMY: We expect mass reductions. We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright. We expect mass reductions in force in areas of the federal government that are bloated. We expect massive cuts among federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government. So yes, we expect all of the above.

And I think people will be surprised by, I think, how quickly were able to move with some of those changes, given the legal backdrop the Supreme Court has given us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, Elon Musk seems to be enjoying his new role as the president-elect's, quote, first buddy.

But is the billionaire in danger of overreaching within Trump circles?

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Take over, Elon! Yes, take over!

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elon Musk, the billionaire new best friend of Donald Trump, has been such a constant presence with the president-elect in recent days that Trump joked about it at Mar-a-Lago.

TRUMP: I can't get him out of here. He just likes this place.

TODD: When musk flew to Washington with Trump this week on Trump's private plane and attended a meeting with House Republicans, Trump joked, I cant get rid of him.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He also has more proximity to president-elect Trump right now than Trump's running mate J.D. Vance.

TODD: Musk, who's been tapped by Trump to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, has, according to sources who spoke to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, been omnipresent with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since the election, exerting enormous influence over the president-elect, dining with Trump, hanging out at the golf course with the Trump family.

When the Trumps were posing for family photos like this one the day after the election, the president-elect encouraged Musk and his young son X to be included.

TRUMP: We have to get Elon with his boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

TODD: Trump's granddaughter, Kai Trump, posting a photo with a caption, Elon achieving uncle status.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Maybe one thing that attracts Elon Musk to Donald Trump and Donald Trump to Elon Musk is that they're kind of the same person. They like being the one person in the room, they like walking into a room and sucking all the oxygen out of it.

TODD: Following this comment from CNN analyst Gloria Borger --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think Musk is becoming like first buddy.

TODD: -- Musk posted, quote, I'm happy to be the first buddy.

Musk has sat in on Trump's post election phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other leaders, posted this photo from Mar-a-Lago after meeting with Argentina's president there.

And according to "The New York Times", Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the U.N. He's also weighed in on staffing decisions.

But is Musk overextending with Trump's inner circle?

"The New York Times" reports that one recent evening, Musk walked into the dining room at Mar-a-Lago, about 30 minutes after Trump did and received a similar standing ovation to the president-elect.

TALEV: There is some conventional wisdom if you followed the first Trump presidency which is that if you begin to overshadow the principal, it usually ends quite badly.

TODD: Then there's the matter of the enormous power Musk could have with his new portfolio. Musk's companies face multiple federal investigations, some of them by agencies whose budgets he might be able to cut.

RONAN FARROW, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, THE NEW YORKER: He's now positioning himself to have potential oversight of the agencies that are investigating him. That would be an unprecedented level of conflict of interest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): No matter when or how this high powered partnership between Elon Musk and Donald Trump ends, Musk seems to have already benefited from it financially. It's been reported that since Trumps election victory, Musk has gotten about $70 billion richer on paper. Much of that due to Tesla's stock skyrocketing.

[02:50:00]

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Donald Trump's new administration is quickly filling up with controversial picks, and some of his fiercest right wing allies are pushing him to go one step further. They want him to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray who Trump appointed and replace him with loyalist Kash Patel. It's a move that Trump is said to be considering. Patel has no law enforcement experience, but he does check one box that's huge for the incoming president, an eagerness to retaliate against Donald Trump's perceived enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL ADVISER: We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminal or civilly, we'll figure that out. But yeah, we're putting you all on notice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN spoke earlier with the retired FBI special agent Daniel Brunner who warned about the dangers of Kash Patel leading the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: It's really important to understand that the person who's leading the FBI who is the director and then the deputy director, those are two very important positions. You're in charge of tens of thousands of employees, both special agents, analysts, everyone that is enforcing the law, federal law that is on the books and supporting the Constitution of the United States. Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous because you just alluded to that his resume isn't as traditional.

There is nothing on his resume other than three years as a line U.S. attorney at the DOJ. He has no experience leading an organization, no less a Cub Scout pack, to put him in front of the lead law enforcement agency in the United States, and some consider the world to have him in charge of so many employees, and he has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those investigated, those that are around him.

He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI, looking after employees who have put their names on certain documents because they were just working the case. There will be hundreds of employees who will be unjustly fired or have their security clearances removed. Only because he feels that its something he needs to do. So I think he would be very, very dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Former FBI special agent Daniel Brunner there.

Well, U.S. health officials are investigating an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots. At least 39 cases have been reported across 18 states since early September, and one person has died. The outbreak has been linked to Grimmway Farms, a carrot producer in California, which announced a recall over the weekend. It says the carrots are likely no longer in stores, but may still be in peoples homes. It's urging people to throw them out or return them to the store, and to clean any surfaces the carrots have touched.

Well, residents of Syracuse, New York, are calling for a state of emergency after elevated levels of lead were found in water samples from some homes and public buildings. But city officials insist there's nothing to worry about.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's the last thing any parent wants to hear that there is a tasteless, smell less, chemical in the water that they use to bathe and feed their children with. But that is exactly what residents in Syracuse are going through right now. Now it started back in August after the city's water department sent notices to some residents to let them know that there had been elevated lead levels found at some homes throughout the city.

Now, the notice said that water samples taken from 104 homes found that 27 of them. So, more than a quarter came back with lead levels above the limit for tap water that are set by the EPA.

Now, since then the city has gone back to retest some of these homes. And officials have said that some of the tests were administered erroneously and that the water is safe to drink. But residents in the city remain skeptical and want the city to take action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people still don't even know that there's a lead in drinking water problem in the city. We need a declaration that will let people know that there's a problem that they need to install filters, and that they need to take action to protect their families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't boil lead out your water. There's nothing we can do. They have to replace these pipes. They have to give everybody filters. They have to declare a state of emergency, and they have to act on this stuff fast and urgently.

[02:55:00]

PAZMINO: Now, according to local officials, nearly 10 percent of the children in Syracuse who have been tested were also found to have elevated lead levels in their blood which is why some residents are saying that there is still reason to believe the water is not safe to drink.

Now, it's important to note that Syracuse's natural water source is not believed to be the source of the lead, but rather many of the city's old pipes and feeding lines that are still not been replaced and that are from a long time ago. Many of these pipes, pipes are still made of lead.

Now, the EPA mandates that when cities find these elevated levels, that they put plans into action, including public education, campaign and making sure that they put a plan in place to replace some of these old pipes. But the city residents want the city to declare a state of emergency. This would allow federal and local funding to be made available so that the replacement projects can happen a lot faster.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And finally, a gold watch gifted to the captain of a ship that rescued hundreds of people from the Titanic has sold for a record breaking price. Captain Arthur Rostron's 18 carat tiffany pocket watch sold for $1.97 million on Saturday. That is a record for a Titanic related object sold at auction. In 1912, Rostron ordered his ship, the RMS Carpathia, to change course after hearing distress calls from the sinking ship. The Carpathia rescued 700 people, three survivors whose husbands died on the Titanic gifted the watch to Rostron.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Do stay with us.