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CNN This Morning

Israeli Security Cabinet Votes on Deal; Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is Interviewed about President Biden and His New Book; Washington Readies for Trump Inauguration; Michael Smerconish Talks about Biden and Trump; Trump Names Hollywood Ambassadors. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 17, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:45]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirming a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would release the hostages. But even as the security cabinet meeting is underway to approve the deal, and a full cabinet vote is set for Saturday, Israeli bombs have not stopped falling on Gaza. Gaza's civil defense says airstrikes have killed at least 86 people, including 23 children. Israel says they were targeting terrorists.

In the U.S., both President Biden and President-elect Trump taking credit for the deal.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told him what I was doing, what I thought could happen. But what we did, we brought in the people - or his - going to be his national security people. We brought them in closer to tell them what was happening as we hand this off.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: It was so ungracious of Biden to say, oh, he did it. He didn't do anything. If I didn't do this, if we didn't get involved, the hostages would never be out. They would have never come out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And CNN's Bianna Golodryga is joining us live now from Tel Aviv with the latest.

Bianna, good morning.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Kasie.

So, as you noted, the security cabinet is meeting right now. A full cabinet vote is expected tomorrow.

This deal is expected to pass. It has overwhelming support among the government's cabinet right now despite some hurdles that we saw yesterday with far-right security, national security head Itamar Ben- Gvir saying that he would resign effectively from this government if this deal actually went through. There are others on the far right, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who's also spoken out against this deal. He has threatened to leave if, after phase one of the deal, that Israel is not allowed to go back into Gaza, that he has threatened to leave this government.

Nonetheless, as I noted, overwhelming support. The prime minister's office here stating that, "subject to the approval of the cabinet and the government, and the implementation of the agreement, the release of the hostages could take place according to the planned outline, with hostages expected to be released as early as Sunday. And among those hostages are women and the elderly men over the age of 50, including American Keith Siegel.

I spoke with his brother Lee and asked him how this moment is feeling for him right now.

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LEE SIEGEL, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE KEITH SIEGEL: Plus, genuinely, until all 98 hostages are home, I - I have a part of me that there's a hole. Keith is going to fill a big, huge part of that hole for all of us. Our entire family. But we all know that without 98 hostages coming home, something's missing. Israel is not able to get back into a routine of looking to the future where we're in recovery. They all need to be home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: And that is the sentiment shared by almost everyone here in Israel. There is high anticipation and excitement at the fact that we will start to see hostages hopefully released on Sunday.

But as we heard from Lee Siegel, the concern is, once this first phase ends, whether or not both sides can agree to move on to phase two, where the remaining hostages would be released. All Israel is hoping and counting on the return of all 98 hostages after 15 months in captivity.

Kasie.

HUNT: All right, Bianna Golodryga for us with that.

Bianna, thank you so much for your reporting. I really appreciate it.

All right, let's turn now to this story.

As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, he's making a pitch for his economic legacy, in particular his investments in infrastructure. You may remember last year, his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, reportedly said this about how Biden talked about those bipartisan achievements on the campaign trail. Quote, "I think the president is out there too much talking about bridges. He does two or three events a week where he's cutting a ribbon on a bridge. If you go into a grocery store and you know milk and eggs are expensive, the fact that there's an f-ing bridge is not - I think that it doesn't get covered that much because, look, it's an f-ing bridge."

And yet, in the final days of his presidency, Biden has kept coming back to bridges.

[06:35:00]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The mistake we made was, I think I made, was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this. So, for example, the all new billion dollar bridge over the - over river, well, call it the Democratic bridge, kind of figuratively speaking. Talk about who put it together. Let people know that this was something the Democrats did.

I almost spent too much time on the policy and not enough time on the politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And new this morning, "The New York Times" reporting on a private and reportedly emotional meeting between Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and President Biden that happened on July 13th. That was a little over two weeks after Biden's disastrous debate performance. "The Times" reporting that Schumer told the president, quote, "if you run and you lose to Trump and we lose the Senate and we don't get back the House, that 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window," Mr. Schumer said. "But worse, you go down in American history as one of the darkest figures." And he would end with a directive, "if I were you," Mr. Schumer said, "I wouldn't run. And I'm urging you not to run."

Joining us now is Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. He is the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee and also the author of the new book, "It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for a Progressive Change."

Senator, good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OR): Thank you. Thank you for having me back.

HUNT: Congratulations on the book.

I do want to start with this new bombshell "New York Times" reporting and a little bit more of what - of what they put into their story. "It was July 13, 2024, a humid summer afternoon just before 4:00. Mr. Schumer, the Democratic leader of the senate, was about to make a blunt case to Mr. Biden that he needed to drop his bid for a second term. If there were a secret ballot among Democratic senators, Mr. Schumer would tell the president, no more than five would say he would - should consider - continue running."

What is your reaction to this? And did you feel, at this time, that the president should have stopped his bid?

WYDEN: Well, first of all, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden have a long relationship. Chuck was a credible and persuasive connection because they go back to the years working on Judiciary Committee issues. That was a real common bond for him. So, I think that was the right move for Senate Democrats to reach out through Senator Schumer.

I will tell you, and I thought a lot about this, too. I'm having town hall meetings this weekend at home. I've had 1,100 of them. And I've said to my staff, the day that I can't do these open to all town hall meetings, stand there, take unscripted questions for an hour and a half, I've got to do something else. And clearly that was part of this. I think that the White House hadn't had Joe Biden out there doing those kinds of sessions. And - and we saw the consequences.

HUNT: Did you feel at the time when Biden was still running for president, before that debate performance, that he was up to the job? Did you have any concerns ahead of time?

WYDEN: During the first days of the term, we worked very closely together, and he was on the program. You know, I wrote the biggest investment in fighting climate change in American history. It's in the book, taking the long game. President Biden was with us every single step of the way. We said, we're going to reward people who reduce carbon. We're going to have an effort to lower energy prices. It stood together. He was all in. But clearly after that big package went through in the first couple of years, I think he was not out on the trail as much, not in part of those spontaneous discussions, and it showed.

HUNT: Do you blame him for Democrats losing the White House? Do you blame his decision to run for re-election?

WYDEN: Look, this was very personal, and everybody understood it. Obviously, it would have been better if he had made the judgment earlier, because on certain kinds of issues, like food prices, for example, there's discussion about what to talk about. I told everybody, the focus has to be on those issues where the second word is bill. It might be medical bill, it might be gas bill, it might be rent bill. That's what people are talking about. We're dealing with inflation. That message got lost.

HUNT: Did you know that Schumer had had this meeting? Was this done with the knowledge of your colleagues and the support of you colleagues?

WYDEN: Generally. I mean certainly Senator Schumer talks to all of us. The big joke is, he knows all of our phone numbers by heart. So, yes, there is no question that he was going to do this, that he was the person to do it. Those years of working together, particularly on judicial issues and the Judiciary Committees made him a good fit for it.

HUNT: And you were supportive of it?

WYDEN: Yes.

HUNT: Let's talk a little bit about your book you mentioned. It's called "It Takes Chutzpah," and you have a number of rules of chutzpah that you kind of walk through. One of them is, rule number four, it's show up every day prepared to play. And it's in a chapter that you have about bouncing back. And that, of course, very relevant to where Democrats find themselves politically today.

[06:40:02]

What lessons do you have in the book that you think your party should be applying today?

WYDEN: Well, first of all, everybody needs to know what chutzpah is. It's grit and nerve. And frankly, it's America at its best.

HUNT: It's a great word, I have to say. It says a lot in a little - in just a few letters.

WYDEN: If - if you - if you think about it, the original proponents for the founding fathers, because they took on the British, they told them to go fly a kite. That's what American history. And we really need it now more than ever because we've got huge economic challenges. We're going to have to cope with AI and technology.

I came to the United States Senate when only Pat Leahy knew how to run a computer, and I got - I got a chance to write some of the early laws, the digital signatures law. You know, people following this probably signed contracts today with the digital signatures law. So, this is a crucial time.

And I tell everybody, you've got inner chutzpah. Everybody's got it. And my rules are designed to help you polish the chutzpah and make a difference.

HUNT: So, at this point, when you talk about tech, the other thing I wanted to touch on with you before I let you go is what Biden said the other night in his farewell address, talking about the tech industry, oligarchs running the tech industry. Has it gotten out of hand? Do you share his concerns?

WYDEN: Well, I think the tax code is broken, and that's what he was really talking about. You know, I made the point that we want a tax code that gives everybody in America the chance to get ahead. Well, firefighters and teachers, they pay taxes with every paycheck. If you're a billionaire and you've got good lawyers and accountants, you can figure out what you're going to pay, when you're going to pay it and essentially, you can go for years on end if you buy, borrow and die paying little or nothing. We need to have a system that gives everybody in America a chance to get ahead.

Bill Bradley, a great basketball player, and I've been working on this for years. That's the way that America will be stronger. And we have to have the chutzpah to take on those powerful tax lobbyists and get these reforms.

HUNT: All right, Senator Ron Wyden, I'm so grateful to have you on the program today.

WYDEN: Thanks for having me. HUNT: Thanks so much for having a conversation. Congratulations on the book.

And the book is, "It Takes Chutzpah." It is out now. You can buy it at the Strand Bookstore, which is a family - a (INAUDIBLE) family business, a beloved institution in New York City.

All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump's inauguration set for Monday, with all the titans of tech in attendance, and a few notable absences. Michael Smerconish will be here to discuss.

Plus, SpaceX failed. That Starship rocket that caused some significant problems at airports.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not right. Something happened. This exploded. This thing has exploded.

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[06:46:39]

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": On Monday at noon, Trump will take the oath of office. And then, out of habit, he'll put his hand on the Bible, sign it, and then try to sell it for bitcoin.

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HUNT: Donald Trump's second inauguration is just days away. From the guest list to the performances, his 2025 return to Washington is shaping up to be much different than his 2017 welcome.

On Monday, attendees will be treated to performances by Carrie Underwood and The Village People, the band behind Trump's - one of Trump's favorite campaign tunes. Also expected to attend, the world's top tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and TikTok's CEO Shou Chew. Their attendance coming as President Biden warns of an emerging tech industrial complex with a dangerous concentration of power and wealth.

In his first inaugural address, however, Donald Trump accused a different group of the very same thing.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: My panel is back to discuss more about this.

Kate Bedingfield, Trump's second inauguration indeed going to be a much different reception than 2017.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it will be interesting to see what kind of tone he strikes in his speech on - on Monday. Obviously, the first everybody remembers, American carnage and this kind of very dark vision of where the country is. And we heard a lot of that from him on the campaign trail. But, you know, now he - he takes the reins. And so, it will be interesting to see if he uses this as a moment to try to appeal to people who maybe didn't vote for him. I'm not sure I've ever seen Donald Trump really do that, but it might be smart of him to do it. So, let's see. That's one thing I'm going to be looking for.

But I think there is also this question, he's in this unique space where he is - he is an incumbent president in many ways, but he also doesn't - he's trying to present himself as - as change, as a new direction. Can he thread that line, or is he going to feel like somebody who was once railing against the tech elites and has now invited them to sit on the dais with him? It will be - it's going to be interesting to see how he navigates that line.

HUNT: Brad, can he be, you know, morning in America? Are we going to get morning in America Donald Trump or American carnage?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he's - he's a lot more prepared to be president than he was in 2017. He has a lot more clearer idea of what he wants to do.

I think - it's also important that he doesn't look like he's going to be greeted with 250,000 protesters the next day. I think it set his administration back that the Democrats just absolutely treated him as an illegitimate president in 2017 and protested him from the very first day. I think that was a big setback for his administration. That's not happening this time. I think that bodes well.

: Yes, to Brad's point, there is no women's march planned for the day after this inauguration. The other thing is, Trump has also been very, you know, has been obsessed for - with how his first inauguration looked, especially the crowd sizes. But everything about it.

HUNT: Oh, yes we can - yes.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And - and, you know, he's long - you know, you had Sean Spicer come out the day after and be like, this is the biggest inauguration in history. But they have raised $500 million for this inauguration. And it's going to be very interesting to see, as someone that's as image obsessed as Donald Trump is, how it looks.

[06:50:00]

HUNT: Yes, that's how it looked back in 2017 on The Mall. MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, for all the pomp

and circumstance that's going to happen on Monday morning, as it should, and he should revel in the success that he's had. The reality is, it's going to be what happens like three or four hours later when he starts signing executive orders. And then if they start putting in place some of these things, such as, are we going to round people up, put them in detention camps and then send them home? I mean, I think there's going to be a immediate whiplash on Monday from people being like, oh, wow, like, oh, my God, what is happening here, immediately.

HUNT: All right. Well, so speaking of where Donald Trump stands going into this, the president-elect is seeing more positive ratings heading into his second inauguration than he did the first time around. According to a new CNN poll, 46 percent of Americans view Trump favorably. That's his best number since just after the 2016 election. The same survey determined President Joe Biden's approval rating sits at a low of 36 percent right now. Despite that, he is defending his administration's record in a new exit interview.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got a lot of criticism, understandably. We've invested more in red states than blue states.

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC: That - that's in this book. That's in this report.

BIDEN: Well, for two reasons. One, red states really screwed up in terms of the way they handle their economy and the way they handle manufacturing and the way they handle access to supply chains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to discuss, because it's Smerconish Friday, is CNN's Michael Smerconish.

Michael, good morning. Wonderful to see you.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, "SMERCONISH": Good morning.

HUNT: I honestly would just kind of take your reaction to how President Biden is - is handling this on his way out. I mean he clearly is very defensive of his administration and is having a tough time saying goodbye.

SMERCONISH: So, why are incoming President Trump's numbers for him so high? I think it's because of where outgoing President Biden's numbers are. As you've been pointing out, both in terms of job approval and favorability, they're related, but they're two distinct entities. Biden is leaving at an all-time low, 36 percent job approval. He's got a favorability of 33 percent. Donald Trump's numbers exceed in each of those categories. I think it's because of a comparison of Trump versus Biden at this low point.

Here's the silver lining for outgoing President Joe Biden. When Jimmy Carter left office, he had a 34 percent job approval rating. In 2023, when voters were asked, when Americans were asked, retrospectively, how they regarded President Carter, he had a 57 percent approval. And probably at the time of his passing, most recently, it would have been even higher.

What's my point? My point is, these things are fluid.

HUNT: Yes, well, I mean, look, your point is actually made by the fact that, you know, people felt one way when Donald Trump left office and it only took four years for them to decide, well, actually, that wasn't so bad. Our memory has changed.

Michael, I want to ask you about this story that "The New York Times" just posted. It - it really walks through - it's an excerpt from a book - or reporting for a book from two of their journalists walking through Senator Chuck Schumer, the then-Senate majority leader's role in pushing Joe Biden off the stage. They detail a meeting that he had with Biden the week before. Biden ultimately decided to drop out.

But there's an interesting piece in it about what Schumer - and, you know, I'm very interested in your take, but clearly there's an effort here to try to write the story about the way that Democrats didn't expose what was going on with President Biden at the time, because here's what they report.

They say, quote, "for months Mr. Schumer had been concerned that Mr. Biden was going to lose to Mr. Trump and cost Democrats Congress. It wasn't that he thought Mr. Biden was not capable of the job. During their weekday conversations, the president often rambled, but he always rambled. Once in a while, Mr. Biden would forget why he had called, but Mr. Schumer thought little of it. He was convinced that Mr. Biden could handle the job. But with the Republican messaging machine deriding him relentlessly as old and senile, Democrats were hard pressed to land any attacks on Mr. Trump. Long before the president's disastrous debate performance, Mr. Schumer had privately concluded that the barrier of Mr. Biden's age was too much for him to overcome.

What's going on here? Is this revisionist history and this detail about Biden calling the majority leader and forgetting why?

SMERCONISH: So, I have a couple of thoughts about this. First of all, probably Schumer is familiar with the data that you and I have just discussed, right? They were looking at internal numbers all along and seeing that it was probably an unwinnable race.

And secondly, I'm convinced that there's a whole backstory here. We've never been told about the machinations of the Democratic leadership and how President Biden was actually forced out of the election.

[06:55:02]

I mean, can I remind everybody that George Clooney, not Chuck Schumer, not Barack Obama, not Nancy Pelosi, it was George Clooney writing that opinion piece that was a catalyst for the domino effect that then caused President Biden to step aside and - and get out of the race. I've always believed that we've never been told everything that went on, and what all the warning signs that triggered the alarm bells were. And I just hope the story comes out, not in a negative way toward President Biden. I'm not, you know, hoping for him being besmirched. But I just think we don't know everything, and we ought to.

HUNT: Yes, it's history for sure.

SMERCONISH: Yes.

HUNT: Briefly, Michael, I want to get to this because it's just - it's interesting to me.

SMERCONISH: Right.

HUNT: Eric Adams, the indicted mayor of New York, is going to go meet with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. What do you think that's about?

SMERCONISH: Oh my God, pardon me. I think we all know what it's about.

I think that - that Monday, Tuesday is just going to be so difficult to - to maintain pace with the amount of news that will come out of the new Trump White House. And I would be shocked amidst all the executive orders if there weren't a ton of pardons, including J-6ers. By the way, that really troubles me.

So, I think that the mindset is probably one of, get rid of the pardons, deal with them, maybe Eric Adams, maybe not, because there'll be so many other things going on that the media is going to be consumed with so much news that it wouldn't have the impact that it would at a different time, say if he did it six weeks in advance.

So, buckle up for Monday and Tuesday.

HUNT: Yes. Good advice.

Michael Smerconish, thank you, as always. Wonderful to see you on this Friday.

SMERCONISH: Thank you, Kasie. You too.

HUNT: And everyone out there, don't forget, watch Michael Smerconish tomorrow morning on CNN.

Thank you.

All right, let's turn now to this, Donald Trump making a very important personnel announcement over Truth Social last night.

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JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": "It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone to be special ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California." Wow. "Braveheart," "Rambo," and the "Midnight Cowboy." He summoned the three horsemen of the Apocalypto to save us.

In other words, Trump saw "The Expendables 3" on his plane last night, and he's like, hmm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, Donald Trump tapping those three actors to serve as, quote, "special envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years, to foreign countries," and to be his, quote, "eyes and ears."

Mel Gibson telling "Variety" that he was, quote, "just as surprised as anyone else." Any chance the position comes with an ambassadors residence?," the "Braveheart" star added. Of course, he's been through a lot in the last few days.

As for the Stallone pic, well, we know Trump loves winners.

(VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And so, Mark Preston, this is one of those things, we know Donald Trump, ever since he, you know, the kid from Queens wanted to be accepted, Hollywood has never accepted him. There are a few who have. They're going to be the new, quote/unquote ambassadors. But we are seeing some movement among celebrities as well. I mean Carrie Underwood is performing. It's a little bit of a change.

PRESTON: Gavin DeGraw. Yes, you know, what we're seeing, too, we're seeing the definition of Hollywood has expanded from beyond the traditional L.A. actors, right? It is now influencers. It is folks on YouTube and what have you.

I think you're going to see a lot more people start to come out for Trump because they feel comfortable with it.

THOMPSON: I'd also just add a little twist on what you said, which is that Hollywood used to love Donald Trump. And -

TODD: "Home Alone."

THOMPSON: And -

BEDINGFIELD: (INAUDIBLE).

THOMPSON: And then they - and then he sort of feels they turned on him. And so this is a way of trying to win them back - win their approval back.

TODD: I - I - I was -

BEDINGFIELD: But I - but can I just say quickly, though? We should - also should not forget, Mel Gibson has used the n-word. He has said all sorts of anti-Semitic things. I mean, I - look, it's - it's Donald Trump's right to not - pick whoever he wants to be as ambassadors to Hollywood, but I - I don't think we should lose sight of the fact that Mel Gibson has a really troubling history.

TODD: We pick ambassadors to foreign countries, and Hollywood is about as foreign from middle America as you can get. So, I think we need to think about some foreign relations with Hollywood after this is over with. Maybe cut a treaty. We'll see what happens.

HUNT: Mark Preston, and very quickly, we've got about a minute left. This is the last Friday of the Joe Biden administration. On Monday, we're going to wake up, Donald Trump is going to be inaugurated.

What are your thoughts going into the weekend?

PRESTON: I think - well, look, Smerconish is right. I mean it is going to be fast and furious Monday, Tuesday. Buckle up because I don't think that this country is ready for what's about to hit him.

HUNT: Alex.

THOMPSON: I completely agree. I think Trump feels an incredible amount of - incredible mandate. And I don't think any amount of media backlash is going to get him to sort of stop.

HUNT: Kate.

BEDINGFIELD: I mean, it's a - it's an emotional weekend for me in some ways.

HUNT: It's a moment for you.

BEDINGFIELD: I worked for Joe Biden for almost ten years.

HUNT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: So, I'm watching the end of - of a lot of work that I was really proud of.

[07:00:03]

So, for me, it's - it's emotional. But I also certainly agree with these guys. I think Trump feels the wind at his back, and I think he's going to see that that honeymoon is going to evaporate sooner rather than later, is my guess.

TODD: On Joe Biden's first day he issued executive orders that opened up the border essentially in many ways, and also drove up the price of energy. Both those two things were the seeds of his destruction. So, watch Donald Trump's first day. Let's hope it works out better for him.

HUNT: All right, thank you guys all for joining us. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks to all of you at home. I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well.

I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.