coun that the people who live here have no idea about their lives. and guess what, they're right. . this is a county perspective of the president. >> a fisherman voted for donald trump, disagrees with donald trump on climate change, disagrees with donald trump on abortion. they thinks donald trump is going to protect his job. it's his life, food on the

table. >> when you have a luxury, if you make enough money, to care about things like democracy, then, you know, that's something you can vote on. that's what these voters were telling us. we need to be able to buy food and pay rent. thank you all for watching. "cnn news central" starts right now. president joe biden speaking publicly for the first time since donald trump's victory, touting his administration's accomplishments while comforting a defeated base, as we're learning of growing frustration within his party and finger pointing harris' plus, will house? republicans are planning the and

presidency.

one former biden administration official telling cnn's mj lee this, the lack of a

competitive process for a replacement that he didn't allow for that to happen, people are still angry about the shunning that they took for speaking out earlier about him. and i'm also told that some senior party officials are also looking at rising stars within the party. republican governor gavin newsom, michigan governor gretchen whitmer suggesting if they had decided to launch a primary bid against biden, sure, they would have gotten blowback from the from the white house, from the incumbent, but it would have led to a debate earlier in the cycle, allowing democrats to potentially pursue an alternative plan much earlier in the cycle. the biden administration is now trying to figure out how they can trump- proof as much as president biden's legacy as possible. they're trying to disburse about $7 billion in aid to ukraine by january 20th that would otherwise be libel to be clawed back. they're also trying to look at what spending under prime

minister's semiconductor, infrastructure, and climate laws can be spent this year, even though many of those pieces of legislation are long-term. and they're also safeguarding some protections for agency employees. making it more difficult for a trump administration to potentially fire them, though officials acknowledge that it's not perfect, it's not foolproof, but it will at least buy those employees a little bit of time. boris? brianna? >> kayla, thank you for the report from the white house. as president- elect trump prepares to return to tower, we're told that . kristen, what's the latest there? >> we know donald trump met with his transition team yesterday. he's meeting with them again today, but that the behind the scenes jockeying is in full effect. the wheels are really in motion here, and donald trump is listening to quite a few people who are calling him, giving him ideas for various positions, but also, we have to remember

that this transition had already been sitting down. the head of the transition with various candidates, vetting them. they were working up proposals to also give donald trump. so there's a lot of incoming information. now, the one thing to point out here is two critical jobs that are likely to be two of the first- fill jobs. the first being chief of staff. this will be the president's right hand. it will be the person who really is the next in line. i know j.d. vance is the vice president, but in terms of power within the white house and having the president's ear, this is the person who is likely to do that. we are told that susie wiles is the front- runner for that job. she ran his campaign. she was with him even when most republicans had distanced themselves from him after he left office in disgrace, back in 2021, but there are a number of other names on the list, other than just susie. however, we are told that it's susie's to turn down at this point. obviously, anything can happen. it's donald trump and we know a lot of people are in his ear. the other job to keep a close eye on is attorney general.

this is important in any administration, but it is critical in a trump administration. and here's why. we have been reporting for the last year that one of the things that donald trump wants to do is essentially take the independents away from the of justice. he believes that they should be completely one in the same with the executive branch and the white house, meaning that he'll be working hand in hand with an attorney general to do some of the things that he wants to do, and that includes potentially retaliate against various political rooifls. he's also going to be the person who's in charge of potentially firing jack smith and getting those cases, those federal cases against him dismissed. he needs somebody who is loyal, who has stood by him, and there is a long list of people who are interested in that position and whose names are being floated. just to give you a few, and again, this is a fluid situation, he is looking at a number of people, but here are some of them. texas attorney general ken paxton, matt whitaker, he who served as the acting ag after jeff sessions was fired, mike lee, the senator from utah, john ratcliffe, the former director of national

intelligence. two other names that we don't have on that graphic, but are two conservative lawyers who have gone to bat for donald trump time and time again, not just behind the scenes, but also on tv. important to donald trump, mark davis and mike paletta. there's a heavy push for each of them. unclear if they would take it, if they can get the confirmation. one thing to also keep in mind, donald trump is going to have power over the senate. a lot of these questions as to whether or not he could get people confirmed, they are no longer as hutch of an issue when donald trump goes back to washington. the last thing i'll say, donald trump is coming back to a very different washington than the first time he entered office in 2017. his team knows what they want. they know how to do it, and they have the allies in the senate and the house to get the things he wants to get done done. he's already starting to write executive orders with his team and they plan to hit the ground running in a way they did not say in 2017. >> in 2016 to 2017, the transition was

effectively thrown out by trump because of his break with correas correas. let's discuss with our panel. we have mark preston, democratic strategist, chuck rocha, and republican strategist for axiom strategies, erin perini. mark, first, what did you make of what we heard from president biden this morning? >> one, not surprised in his measured tone, at times. if you heard the inflection of his voice, and i will talk about that in a moment, i find that very interesting, joe biden is someone who not only speaks with his words, but with the tone of his voice and with his body language. for joe biden, it was concise, so thank god for that. but there's so much focus on this comment that he said, he said, you know, you can't love country, only when you win. and there'll be a lot of focus on that. here's another line that i think is more important in the near-term that i don't think people are focusing on. he said, now we have 74 days to finish our term. "our term. " again, the inflection of his voice when he said "our term,"

let's make everyday count, that's the responsibilities that we have to the american people. okay, so what are the responsibilities that joe biden has to his own political party, the infighting we're seeing right now, and will there be pressure from the left for him to try to do anything he can do right now, push people into government before donald trump takes over in january? so a lot to unpack there, but there's a lot to unpack there. >> yeah, there is a lot. and erin, let's unpack a little bit of it. what do you think about that, that idea of joe biden and what he may be doing and certainly what is going to be some whiplash as trump comes in. what are you looking for in the transition? >> a couple of things. one, any level of executive action that are biden takes. they have the opportunity to use what's called the congressional review act, where they are able to put out the ability to overturn those executive actions within 60 legislative days of that action taking effect. so joe biden, if he's going to try to push anything through in these last few days, is going to be very limited in

long- term what that means for his legacy, and what he is able to accomplish, because of the clean republican victory just the other day. >> chuck, go ahead -- >> i was going to say, there's a lot of money that's still in government from all of these big packages that he passed. whether it was the infrastructure, whether it was building back all the things. a lot of just money there, that if they don't get out the door before the 290 0th of january, the republicans could pull some of that back. say, okay, you didn't spend it. we'll use it for what we want to use it for. that's one of the biggest things i've heard. >> one of those issues is green initiatives. and hundreds of millions of dollars have been invest there had and are just waiting to be assigned. >> chuck, i wanted to ask you about the contrast in biden's speech from what we heard before election, and also in harris' speech yesterday. you're hearing these folks come out and say, we're going to be okay. things are going to be fine, but we can't give up the fight, et cetera. con that's that with

donald trump is a fascist, the country is in danger, what oprah said the day before the election, saying, that we may never have another election again. it's a very different tone. >> people put everything into this election. whether you were a democrat or a republican, people get very emotionally invested in these things. it's important, if you're the leader to say, it's going to be okay. identify people in my family on both sides of the party who thought this was the end of the world, one way or another. it's important to say, everything is going to be okay. we will live fight another day, and now we have a government to run or those other things. that's really, really important for a guy that runs elections and wants everybody to come back and vote again in two years and have this conversation one more time to be like, we lost this time. we may not lose next time. let's get to work. >> let's talk, erin, about what trump was saying before the election. it was a very dark closing, as you noted. at times, you expressed that you wished he would focus more on the issues. maybe he would have done better if he had, but he didn't actually need to, it understand the out, to have the win that he did. what does that or tend, do you think? that closing message for

how he's going to govern? >> i think two things. that closing message, it shows how disconnected a lot of us who lives in the acela corridor were. while we were sitting here saying it, i was one of them, trump would be better served staying on message. i still fully believe that, the american people knew what they were getting with donald trump. they remember the economy, the safety at the southern border, and they have that nostalgic feeling. that number was almost impossible for kamala harris to overcome. all of that, what it means is that donald trump has a mandate now from the american people. they said, we had this economy before. my pages were going up. they saw the tax cuts and jobs act, which tax legislation will be up in the 2025 calendar year. some of those provisions will be sunsetting. so they were like, good, i want more tax cuts. that's what i want. they know what they're going to get with him, and now he's able to just go and execute on it. >> mark, there was a considerable amount of chaos

during the trump administration, especially early on when there were these different fiefdoms, we were just talking to kristen holmes about how there wasn't an efficient transition. all of these different fiefdoms fighting each other early on in the trump administration. now that's not in play. how do you expect this transition to go? what do you think trump will try to accomplish in the very early stages of his second administration? >> a couple of things. one, they have had eight years to really fully understand government. four of those years, they were in the government. you know, they know how to walk around the buildings, which in and of itself can be pretty confusing if you've ever walked around the buildings. this is what you'll see. i know there's a lot of talk about whether robert kennedy jr. will be confirmed as a cabinet secretary. whether elon musk will have to be put in a position for a cabinet secretary. doesn't have to. all you need the donald trump's ear. we understand that. cabinet secretaries, look, they're very important,

they help create policy, and in a donald trump administration, they are just implementing what he says. so that's number one. number two, when i heard this morning from a senior trump adviser, there are a lot of resumes right now coming in from silicon valley, okay? from the tech bros and there is this fascination with -- from republicans with their new connection to silicon valley, which used to be very democratic, as we know, and how they may come into the administration. so you may see some stronger bonds between silicon valley, beyond elon musk and the republican party and donald trump's administration. >> i mean, i think we can agree on that. what trump wants is someone who's going to implement his vision, and it's normally what a president wants, right? however, donald trump sometimes draws out the lines on what he wants, a lot of times. so, to that point, chuck, as you were looking at the jobs in the cabinet and you were looking at the candidates for these

jobs, and who might implement what donald trump says, who concerns you most? what position concerns you most? >> i think mark brought up a good point. they know what they want last time. last time they were kind of flat footed. they didn't think they were going to win and they were unprepared. and speaking of donald trump, i'm wearing my big donald trump tie today, because i've talked a lot of smack on this network and i don't want to be audited. think about if you want to run something or be the secretary of the education or secretary of the army. he wants people who do just what i did, suck up to him, but will implement a plan that other people around him have. can i say it's a bad plan, she can say it's a good plan, but you want somebody that's loyal. last time, he listened to a lot of people. >> that's my fear, this was going to be an interactive segment, and we weren't given any -- >> that's how you win. >> i can't say, look at my tie now. >> chuck did that all of his own. erin, one of the first things we saw when trump took power

was implementation of a plan that sort of failed and got reincarnated several times. it was that ban of muslim countries. that originated from the steve bannon win, the fiefdom that i was talking about, with bannon not necessarily being in office this time, but still having the ear of donald trump, how big would you say that sort of influence is from that wing of trump's support. the nativist, sort of america first? >> i think you need to look at who is being floated as a possible white house chief of staff. it's susie wiles. she's a tried and true professional. and while there are other people who might have access and the ear of the president, there are few people, and we all know this, who have been in donald trump's orbit, who have made it as long and are as trusted as susie wiles. and not only is she a political professional, but the president trusts her. and i've seen reporting where she has pushed back on the president, but she knows when to let go and which fights are worth it. if you consider that as the person at the helm or any of the other names that are being floated, like a brooke

rawlins, i have heard that kevin mccarthy could be being considered, those are people who could be the stronger voice in the room considering they're closest to the president, versus those who might have his ear, but are not necessarily influencing his decision making. >> it would be fascinating to see kevin mccarthy in the white house, especially given the history that they've had. mccarthy was the first republican to visit trump in mar-a-lago after january 6th. >> listen, if i'm donald trump, and certainly, i'm not. but if i was donald trump, i would put susie wiles as the chief of staff to set up the government. the thing about susie wiles, she doesn't need anything about donald trump. when people go donald trump, they want something from him. she tried to hide on election night. i would put kevin mccarthy in some sort of czar role to work with capitol hill, because as much as kevin mccarthy, you know is a true republican and what have you, he does now how to cut a deal and there are deals that will need to be cut. >> it will be interesting to see

how he might get along with a potential republican house. mark, erin, chuck, appreciate the conversation. thank you so much. happening today, the federal reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the second time this year. and the central question is, will they keep driving rates even lower in the coming months? >> as we transition to a new president, the economy is also facing a new direction. as trump has vowed to attack inflation with tax cuts and tariffs, economists are concerned that those issues could end up reigniting inflation. cnn's matt egan is with us live now. let's talk first about the fed decision today. what are you expecting. >> it does look like another interest rate cut from the federal reserve is imminent. the market is pricing in something like a 99% chance that the fed cuts rates by a quarter of a point today. very little chance that the fed goes big again, like it did in september, with that half a point interest rate cut. so there's not much drama about what the fed is going to do, but there is some drama over

what fed officials are going to say. fed chair jerome powell is going to face a lot of questions at this press conference about the elephant in the room, right? president- elect trump's economic agenda. and what those proposals mean for the economy, for jobs, for inflation. and i think the answer is, it's a little bit too soon to tell, but i know that fed officials are going to be starting to think about that. now, the election made clear that americans are very frustrated with high prices are. but what's interesting is the fed, the fed does not target price levels. they look at the rate of inflation. how much prices are going up and down. and they are satisfied that the rate of inflation is basically back to normal. and so that's why they've shifted their froex fighting inflation to trying to protect the jobs market. and that does mean interest rate cuts. now, this is good news for everyone who's borrowing.

for people who are trying to pay off credit card debt, every interest rate cut will help. for people who are trying to finance the purchase of a car, but the last few weeks have been another reminder that the fed has less control over mortgage rates. that's controlled but the bond market. and we just learned today that mortgage rates have continued to go higher. 6. 8% is the latest average for a 30- year fixed rate mortgage. that's going in the wrong direction. that's up from about 6. 1%, the week after the fed started cutting interest rates, and that is happening because the bond market is getting more optimistic about the economy, but also starting to price in the trillions of dollars in debt that could get added from trump's plans to cut taxes. boris and brianna? >> matt, i do want to ask you about tariffs, because despite most mainstream economists making clear that those tariffs would wind up getting paid by consumers, donald trump has insisted that it should be

-- they should be installed, and that they would help bring prices down, but the exact opposite is more likely, right? >> that's right. listen, inflation has helped to send donald trump back to the white house. and he's promised to attack inflation, by really shaking things up with tariffs and deportations. but mainstream economists are concerned that the trump economic agenda will be inflationary, perhaps very inflationary, in part because of those tariffs. economists with the university of chicago have overwhelmingly said that americans will pay those tariffs in the form of higher taxes and mass deportations could deprive some industries of workers and that could cause them to lift wages and lift prices. but it's all going to come down to how this is implemented. and we'll be waiting to see, because, listen, a lot is at stake. people are very frustrated with the cost of living and the

last thing they want is for prices to go even higher. >> thank you so much for the report. ahead this hour, republicans have an ambitious agenda. we'll take a look at what they hope to accomplish during the second trump protest if in the meantime, democrats are huddling to figure out what went wrong. we'll talk to one of the lawmakers who made a strong case for why president biden should drop out. >> plus, rudy giuliani is in court after failing to turn over assets in his defamation case, including the very car that he was seen riding in this week. stay with us. we'll be right back.

as of this moment, we still don't know which party will control the house of representatives with dozens of states still getting votes tallied. >> republicans are confident they'll hang on to their grip of the chamber inin could become a gop full sweep in washington. we have cnn's lauren fox with us. tell us what lawmakers are saying and what they're expecting. >> republicans did not want to be caught flat- footed, like they did in 2016. then they went to try to repeal and replace obamacare, and if you remember, it was a big old mess. what they've been doing, over the course of the last

several months, republicans on the tax- writing committees, house ways and means, they've held a meeting in small groups, trying to come up with ideas for what they would like to see in a major tax package. and that's likely to be one of the number one issues that theythey after january. that's because a lot of the popular provisions from the tax cuts and jobs act that trump passed in 2017, they're about to expire at the end of 2025. those are important and popular provisions like the expansion of the child tax credit and the estate tax deduction. those are areas where republicans are really looking to change some policy. now, they may use a really difficult process that is convoluted, happens to the united states senate, and they might try to put some other provisions in there. donald trump ran on immigration, a lot of republicans ran on immigration. do try to include some of the border security provisions. those are all up for discussion. they're also eyeing repealing parts of the inflation reduction act that they don't like. that, of course, was biden's signature policy bill,

climate, and economic bill. so a lot of things that republicans are talking about, i will tell you that while we have not called the house, you know, republicans are feeling really bullish and you know, they're starting to think about what they want to do. >> when do you think we might call the house? when would we get some results? >> california traditionally has taken a long time to count all the ballots and there are a lot of really competitive districts, like john duarte's district or value dao's district. so it will take a little bit of time to get that final call. republicans, though, they've been thinking not just in the last week, but over the last several months what they would do if they swept the house, the white house, or the senate. >> lauren fox, thanks so much for the reporting. appreciate it. so voters in as many as five battleground states may have split their tickets, picking donald trump for president, but then picking a democrat or a different party for a different statewide office. joining us now is larry sabato, director at the center for politics at the university

of virginia. thank you so much for being with us. kamala harris did worse than some of the other democrats on the ticket, especially in michigan and wisconsin. there was an open seat race in michigan that a democrat won, and then in wisconsin, the incumbent democrat, tammy baldwin, was re-elected. trump carried both of those states. why do you think that happened? >> well, it's interesting. i've looked at some of the data and it seems to me that you had some donald trump- only voters. that is that they went into the booth or filled out their mail-in ballot and they just voted for trump. or they didn't vote for other offices. maybe they recognized the incumbent democrat's name. but very clearly, democrats did better by a couple of points, which was all you really needed to keep some key seats, which gets them to the level where they can actually have an influence in the senate, rather than being steamrolled.

>> it didn't make the difference in some places for sure, but before tuesday, it seemed, larry, a lot of analysts were saying, it used to be that all politics are local, and now it's that all politics are national. is it both now? >> well, most politics now is national, because we are so partisan and we are so polarized. but that doesn't mean that a candidate can't somehow get a couple of percent from the independent category not available to his or her presidential candidate. and that often makes the difference, as it did in these cases that we're siding here. and we could cite many cases, actually, from that election night, where mb would get elected down the ballot by a healthy margin, whereas the presidential candidate was losing by an unhealthy margin. that happens. it just doesn't happen as commonly as it once did, y on an election night, you would often have, you know, half the senate

being elected of the other party from the party of the presidential winner in that state. i think those days if not gone forever, they're gone for a long time. >> there was some ticket splits on certain ballot measures, and seven of ten ballot measures protecting abortion rights passed, including in arizona, nevada, and missouri, where trump either won or is currently ahead. i wonder what you make of democrats having invested so much messaging on reproductive rights, and not having appeared to become a main driver for voters, even though we saw these ballot measures pass. >> well, trump made a decision, maybe off the cuff, or maybe it was something that was planned, that defused part of the abortion question. part of the overturning of roe v. wade liability for him. in which he made it pretty clear, in the language that he was using, that he

wouldn't support a national abortion ban. now, we'll see whether that's true. and that he still had a part of himself, really, like the time he had on national television at the turn of the century, i am 100% pro- choice on abortion. well, that obviously changed while he was president. so he eased the way for those voters to say, well, i like him better for president, and i can't really believe he's going to ban abortion generally. look at the percentage in some of these states of republicans who voted for the protections on abortion narrow state constitution. and at the very same time voted for trump. it may seem irrational or contradictory, but to them it made perfect sense and they're the voters. >> larry, war you expecting in the house, and how much will it matter? >> i think there's very little chance that democrats will control the house. there's some small, small chance, but i think republicans are going to have

everything. it would matter a lot to democrats if they could veto in at least one place. in most cases in the senate, they won't be able to. although, republicans don't have 60 reliable votes. and they obviously don't have the white house and they won't have the cabinet officials and much of the bureaucracy, the senior- level civil servants. but you know what, we often look at the bad side of these things, if you're a democrat, you look at the bad side and say it's terrible that republicans have control of all of this. but it gives you a big advantage. since the republicans are in charge of absolutely everything, they are also responsible for absolutely everything that happens in their two- year or four- year or six- year term. so democrats can run with that. they can hold them accountable the way that the republicans held democrats accountable for, say, inflation. >> yeah, we all remember the backlash of 2010 after democrats controlled

everything. it can be swift and it can be big. larry sabato, thank you so much for your insights. >> thank you. so what do democrats do now? after losing the white house, the senate, and very possibly failing to re- take the house, the party is facing its own moment of truth and reckoning. we'll talk to congressman celt seth moulton about what democrats need to do after trump's decisive win. and before we go to break, take a listen to some of the reaction we're hearing from voters about trump's win. >> i am personally okay with the results of the election. >> what about you? >> i think there's a lot of tension surrounding the situation. i think ultimately, i am putting my faith in something higher, you know, and so i'm just kind of trying to separate myself from the decisiveness and all of that that's happening because of this.

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♪ ♪ the blame game is in full swing within the democratic party. the boiling frustration among members of that party over trump's decisive election victory and some of that frustration is squarely aimed at president biden for his decision to seek a second term.

a senior harris campaign official tells cnn, quote, the lack of a competitive process for replacement that he didn't allow for that to happen. people are still angry about the shunning that they took for speaking out earlier about him. one of the first democratic lawmakers to call for biden to step aside was congressman seth moulton of massachusetts and he is with us now. congressman, just to remind people, as pressure was mounting on biden after that debate performance to drop out in july, you were very public. you wrote an op- ed in "the boston globe. " i mean, a lot of people were speaking out, but they were doing it privately. and you said at the d- day anniversary in france the month before biden, who you had long known and interacted with and he'd been, you know, a mentor for you in politics, that he didn't seem to recognize you. so i wonder as you're reflecting today, who bears the blame here? him, the people around him who may have seen those songs long

before you or are others to blame? what do you think? >> look, there's a lot of blame to go around. and to be clear, i spoke out loudly and publicly only after i had spoke out in private and really tried to convince the administration quietly that he should step aside. but, look, i'm not going to exonerate myself here. sitting here this afternoon, do i wish i had spoken up even earlier, even though i was one of the first democratic lawmakers to speak up publicly? sure pb sure, yeah, i wish i had done so even earlier. >> i don't mean to put you on too much of a pedestal here, but you have challenged stalwarts in your party about whether they represent your party, effectively. you repeatedly opposed nancy pelosi being speaker, for instance. you ultimately, though, did come around. and i wonder if you regret that and if you see anyone having influence in your party if they don't get in line. is there room for someone to really ring that bell,

effectively? >> nancy pelosi was a remarkable leader, the first woman to become speaker, but i thought it was time for a new generation of leadership. and i only agreed to support her after she agreed to step down, a deal that she honored. i feel like a lot of people believe that joe biden was elected, anticipating that he would do one term and then be a bridge to the new generation, just as he said himself, and yet he didn't really honor that. now, maybe it was ant n't a firm promise, but i think our party would have been much better off if he had stepped aside. there's a time and a place for everyone. and when i do town halls back in my district, i often say to the high school kids that show up, if i'm still in office when you're old enough to run, you should consider running against me. and if we have a fair contest and i'm still doing this and doing it well and i win, that's one thing, but leaders should be challenged. that makes a party stronger. it helps move us forward. and i think that even if kamala harris had been our

nominee, but she had gotten there through a competitive primary process, she would have been a much stronger candidate for president. >> you have senator sanders blaming party leaders for abandoning working class voters. you also have congressman richey torres blaming the far left for alienating them. soy wonder what you think is the right message for the party going forward? who's right here? >> i think both bernie and richey are right. we do need to reconnect with working class voters. we haven't done enough for them. we haven't spoken to their concerns. and by definition, we're out of touch, because they clearly don't support us at the polls. richey is also right to a certain degree. i'm grateful for the advocacy and the ideas that the far left brings to our party, but we can't be branded by that. we can't be defined by the far left. we're a much broader party than that. and if we're going to win more elections, we have to appeal

to voters in the center, these independents who clearly swung towards donald trump. >> we just spoke to larry sabato, and he said something that there are a lot of political observers saying, which is that it is very possible, very likely, as he thought, that democrats will not be able to retake the house and that then off situation where president- elect trump is in control of all levers in washington. what is your biggest concern about that? >> my biggest concern is for the fate of our country, when it comes to national security, and for the fate of our democracy, when it just comes to preserving the norms and values that have been so important for our country for almost 250 years. so, what does that mean? it means that we've got to be very careful about what this next commander in chief does. never before in american history has a president been told by -- or publicly told by so many senior advisers in his most senior military officials

that he's unfit to be commander in chief. we heard that from his chief of staff, marine general john kelly and heard it from many others. but we also know that on january 5th, even the morning of january 6th, as he was sitting in my office at the capitol complex up at washington, d.c. , i never imagined that a sitting would incite a riot to try to overturn a peaceful democratic election. so, we have to anticipate the worst, both domestically and internationally. he could well get us involved in wars overseas, with his bluster and the way that he, you know, appeals to our adversaries more than our allies. and he could also significantly erode our democracy here at home, in ways that could last for generations. >> so with your big concern, one of your big concerns being national security, i wonder how you're reflecting on perhaps the most important decision that was made when it comes to national

security, of the biden administration. you sort of infamously with one of your then colleagues, a republican, flew into the ka botched evacuation of afghanistan, and that was really a turning point in how americans -- i mean, if you look at the polls, if you look at how biden was viewed, that was really a turning point, and he had a difficulty recovering his footing after that. do you see that now, as a turning point for his presidency and for how americans viewed him viewed democrats in their capacity to lead? >> i mean, it clearly was. you can look at the past polling. and he never recovered from the reputational hit he took when he made that decision. and i mean, i think it's funny that you refer to our trip there, the bipartisan trip i did with my colleague from michigan as infamous. that's a biden administration talking point. after i showed up in kabul to try to understand what was going on and help us make better decisions sitting on the armed services committee and

other committees in congress, because we had no idea what was actually happening on the ground. we didn't know, for example, if we should push to extend the deadline and keep americans on the ground longer. i was -- brianna, i couldn't walker into a bar anywhere in america and not have people come up to me from both parties and thank me for what we did. so, actually, this is a great example of how the biden administration, this democratic administration was really out of touch with america, pulling us out of afghanistan, they cost american lives, and ultimately, really impacted our foreign policy was a mistake. and we should be able to admit that. and we as democrats should be willing to fix it. that's what i was willing to do. >> yeah, i didn't actually mean, for there to be a pejorative use of that adjective. it was just this moment that stood out as kind of a -- i guess it was sort of an unbelievable, might be a better adjective, something that happened during that time. it was really something to see you and peter meyer show up

there. hardly could believe that it happened, in fact. congressman seth moulton, thank you so much for your time. >> great to see you, brianna. so a big question in washington and across the country today, what is the fate of federal workers if trump looks to put his stamp on the government? we're going to look at the president- elect has sworn to do. we'll have that next.

former trump attorney just left court after facing questions over whether he's complied with an order to turn over assets to a pair of georgia election workers, who he defamed after the 2020 election. >> the workers who giuliani owes nearly $150 million say they have yet to receive some of the most valuable items that they're owed, like the very car he was seen riding in just a few days ago katelyn polantzpolantz live outside of the courthouse. tell us what happened. >> the wrangling over this order where giuliani defamed these women and has to give up many of his most valuable possessions, they're still wrangling over it because juul giuliani's team says

he just isn't getting enough direction to figure out how to give these items over. and so after a lengthy court hearing today, where at one point the judge told giuliani explicitly, if you don't turn your items over, you will be held in contempt, you could face sanctions from the court, he got a deadline. that deadline to provide his luxury items, watches, his grandfather's watch, sports memorabilia, like a joe d'maggio signed jersey and some other items, the keys to that mercedes benz, all of that he has to provide to the lawyers of ruby freeman and shay moss by next week. and giuliani is walking there, he's exiting, speaking to the cameras righras right now, behind me at the federal courthouse in manhattan, a courthouse where he once was

see going on behind you there. it's kind of difficult to see, i know there's a car in the way, but there's obviously a scrum of reporters who are watching him. >> these reporters are watching giuliani, because he hasn't been present physically for these hearings, but he was told by the judge that he had to be here today in court. and through this hearing, as his lawyer tried to walk back things he has done so far, the judge kept saying, talk to your client. he's right there. ask giuliani. and giuliani kept whispering things, like other people were being tortured around him, that they were being vindictive and so in this situation, his lawyer was getting answers there as was the judge. and now giuliani is speaking as he's leaving court. >> kaitlan, is that him yelling? >> reporter: no, i don't believe so. that's someone else. >> i wanted to be sure. >> kaitlan polantz -- >> wish that van would move.

katelyn polantz, thank you so much for report. the peaceful transfer of power is underway in washington, but once donald trump is inaugurated, some policy experts warn parts of project 2025 may soon start to reveal themselves. >> specifically, that the new administration may politicize the federal workforce by replacing experienced workers with trump and party loyalists. senior white house producer, betsy klein joins us now. what exactly is trump promising to do? >> just to put this in perspective, there are 4,000 political appointees in the federal government who will likely depart at the end of the biden administration, but there are over 2 million career federal workers serving across the country, in non- partisan jobs from the postal service to customs and border protection. and we got a preview of how then president trump wanted to handle this at the end of his first term, as he signed an executive order known as schedule "f" in the days before the 20 election. now, that gave him more leeway

in hiring and firing federal employees deemed to be disloyal. and trump repeatedly promised that he would reinstate this executive order if he's re- elected, vowing to demolish the deep state. and trump has promised to declassify thousands of civil service jobs. he could move as many as 100,000 positions out of washington and eliminate or dismantle entire departments, boris and brianna. >> so, betsy, do we know what the litmus test would be? how would the trump administration determine if a federal employee is a trump loyalist? >> it's a debris question. and it's really unclear what kind of rubric would be used to determine so- called loyalty. but there are records for those who have donated to political campaigns or groups in the past, and there's also the question of what's publicly accessible on social media, if those workers have expressed support for another candidate or attended political rallies. so certainly a lot of anxiety about that within the federal workforce right now. >> when it comes to the biden administration, before they leave, is there anything they can do to try to prevent that, to try to protect those workers? >> well,

the biden administration had actually anticipated this and passed a rule earlier this in april, that safeguard federal employees for political firings. and while trump could roll that back, it would take some time through the lengthy federal rule making process. and our sources in the biden administration are saying, there's really not much they could do to bolster those protections at this stage, but this could at the very least buy those workers some time to find a new job. certainly a lot of questions for the federal workforce about how trump will enforce this. >> betsy klein, thanks so much for bringing us that report. a decision by the fed on rate cuts is just a few minutes away. stay with cnn news central. we'll be right back.