everybody involved. >> and we need to overhaul doj and the fbi overhauling the fbi. >> trump's plans to shake up that agency in his second term. and vladimir putin's message to the west. russia launching a new missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons. and later, i've seen it. >> i hear a lot of times i've never seen it. this bad. >> record rainfall more to come. the punishing storm inching its way across the northwest it is snowing in new york city. we just skipped fall entirely and go straight to winter. totally wild. good morning everyone. i'm kasie hunt. it's wonderful to have you with us. all right, let's meet the person that donald trump wants to be. the next attorney yesterday. nope. not him

washington scuffle end quote. he said what it was more importantly, he didn't have the support of enough republican senators to win confirmation. according to reporting in the new york times, gaetz concluded that at least four republican senators were not going to support his nomination. lisa collins of maine, mitch an mcconnell of kentucky, and the newly elected john curtice of utah not a path, and if there's not a path you just you're going to spend a lot of political capital for a losing cause and it wouldn't have been worth it. >> i know enough people that were a hell no in the in the conference to know that the path would have been very, very difficult if possible. even then i doubt it was. >> donald trump wasted no time moving to his second choice for attorney general in the last eight days, going from a florida man to a florida woman. former florida state attorney general pam bondi bondi has

become a trump loyalist. it goes back to the first administration she served as a lawyer and adviser for trump during his impeachment. she also pushed trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. >> we are still on the ground in pennsylvania. i'm here right now and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we won pennsylvania. we know that ballots have been dumped. there were ballots that were found early on. we've heard that people were receiving ballots that that were dead. you know, the thing that's happening all over, were they legal ballots? it is about the integrity of this election. and every vote as mayor giuliani said, in every state must be counted fairly. we need to fix this. we need to remedy this now because we've won pennsylvania and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way and here's what bondi said about the department that she now hopes to lead. >> just last august the prosecutors will be prosecuted. >> the bad ones the investigators will be investigated because the deep state last term for president

trump, they were hiding in the shadows but now they have a spotlight on them and they can all be investigated. and the house needs to be cleaned out. >> all right. our panel is here. molly ball, senior political correspondent for the wall street journal. dana milbank, political columnist for the washington post kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator, former biden white house communications director. and brad todd, cnn political commentator, republican strategist. welcome to all of you. thank you so much for being here, brad. you know, i think you said it here first, a couple of days ago that there was no way matt gaetz was going to go through and clearly there were probably way more than just four people who were going to oppose this nomination. >> eight 1214 i mean, i think he had a real problem, and it was obvious to everyone. and i think they knew that when they nominated matt gaetz. matt gaetz now hopes to get out of the ethics report gets to go home having proven he's close to donald trump. maybe mount a run for governor of florida. so

consolation prize you know, maybe like the price is right, you take something home. >> pam bondi molly ball has been on the political scene. i first covered her when she flew around with mitt romney in campaigning in florida. i think those of us who we were texting each other about this development last night, because not necessarily something that had been expected but, i mean, to brad's point she compared to matt gaetz that comparison is, you know, they're worlds apart, even if there might be people who would raise questions about her nomination. >> well, and although she has those, as you say more establishment bonafides than a matt gaetz, she also is someone who has been a trump loyalist. right. she was a very early to endorse him in 2016, when a lot of people in florida were on board with other candidates. when trump was viewed much more skeptically. and she's been loyal to him throughout, you know, defending him in the impeachment, as you noted before. so i think she is viewed as someone who can sort of bridge the traditional republican establishment and sort of maga world, because she

obviously has been very loyal to trump and but she has more traditional compared to someone like matt gaetz, who had barely practiced law. the fact that she has actually been a state attorney general for two terms, that she has done the more traditional you know, has prosecutorial experience and that sort of thing, i think is going to really warm the hearts of a lot of republican senators who are having so much heartburn over matt gaetz and who didn't, who frankly didn't know where to start with him you know, was it was it the lack of qualifications that was most disturbing was it the ethics stuff? was it other stuff? was it his, you know, ethics stuff? >> you mean possibly having sex with a minor? all of that, possibly multiple occasions? yes. dana. >> well look, i don't want to attribute any strategy to the president elect here but it is kind of genius to put matt gaetz out there as sort of a stalking horse. and anybody who put up after that is going to look reasonable. so i think i think a little bit of that is

what's happening here. i mean, overall, he's set up it's largely a vanity project, right? it's a it's an administration full of loyalists. it's a lot of fox news contributors. so in a vacuum, i think we'd be saying, wow i mean, none of these guys seem to have any particular relevant experience for the job but you know, i mean, as somebody who's worried about what the trump administration may be doing, i'm saying, well, thank god for that because there's not necessarily a whole lot of competence but he should get loyalists. >> he should. right no. president does doesn't go for loyalists. >> well sure. i mean, you kind of you kind of segue into what i was going to say, which is that, yes, she absolutely benefits from not being matt gaetz. i mean, you want to follow the person who, you know, went down in flames, you know, that you're just you're going to benefit by comparison. but i don't think we should lose sight of the fact. i mean, she is an ardent 2020. she was an ardent 2020 election denier. i mean there are still fundamental questions about whether somebody being appointed to run the justice department should be somebody who's willing to just blatantly lie on behalf of the president.

and so, you know yes, obviously, matt gaetz is character flaws, shall we say, and complete lack of experience for the job makes her look better by comparison. but she is still somebody who has been willing to just lie. when trump asked her to. and that's i think that should be of concern to people. >> brad, i take your point about loyalty. i mean, every president. yeah, you know, of course, wants to appoint and that's that's how it works. right but is there a difference, in your view, between loyalty and fealty? and is there a difference on this specific job of attorney general where there is supposed to be some presumed independence in terms of wait a minute, though, i mean, pam bondi has been the attorney general, one of the largest states in the country, one of the most in florida, is an active state in multi-state litigation. >> like she has a long track record here. >> she's trying to raise a question about her experience. i'm asking the question about in this particular role and how loyalty does it then go to fealty, and how does that play out? i think every republican senator, all 53, expect the attorney general to go to the department of justice and make

heads roll. >> i mean republicans do not think this agency currently is functioning in a nonpartisan, neutral way. and justice must be neutral. so i think that absolutely, you hope pam bondi goes over there and does what donald trump wants, which is to clean house. >> so you expect she'll be confirmed? >> yes, i do. >> all right coming up here on cnn this morning, we touched on it a little bit, but we're going to have a longer conversation about what is next for matt gaetz. is it another position in trump's administration? will he run for governor? can he just go back to congress? we'll discuss. plus a major upset, a three term democrat concedes his senate race in pennsylvania and the flood threat in california. not over just yet saw the water rising a bit started to freak out. >> so we put some bags out just in time you want >> astute political analysis. >> we have questions. how biden set the right answer stayed >> why did trump pull out of 60 minutes? i love pulling out.

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that's one ( 800) 269-9522. industry in the world there is a chance that we might not come home woodsmen. >> the danger continues tonight at 9:00 on discovery oath of office for the same office in the 119th congress to pursue the position of attorney general in the trump administration signed. >> sincerely, matt gaetz member of congress well, that happened fast matt gaetz quickly resigned from his house seat after president-elect trump named him as his pick for ag. >> that is, he is not being considered for that anymore, and his future is now unclear. axios reports. quote gaetz potential path back to congress is a legal gray area according to government experts. while politico reports that if gaetz does want to return, the hill seems prepared to punt. that decision to desantis and

florida's secretary of state corey bird, and that house ethics report looking into gaetz's alleged sexual misconduct. members are torn on the fate of that. two. >> i think that this should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should continue to move forward in this matter. >> there's certainly precedent for releasing ethics committee reports after someone has retired from the congress. there's even precedent for releasing it after someone has passed away so uh, brad, you mentioned this at the at the top of the show. >> first of all, there is precedent for the ethics committee to release a report after members have left. they've done it before. they could do it again. but what do you think gaetz's actual future is? everyone was trying to read the tea leaves. this was ginger gaetz, who is matt gaetz's wife. she put up this saying, the end of an era. um, you know, retweeting him, the speculation being that that meant that, you know, he's not going to come back to congress. what are the options for gaetz going forward? >> well, i think if he comes

back to the congress, the ethics charges will be renewed. and this time, fact finding will not take too long because the facts have already been found. so i don't think he wants to do that. i think it's a sword of damocles hanging over him. so i think he'll go back to florida. there's an open governor seat coming. he's now got national name recognition. he's got a national email list to try to fundraise from. he's a power base. his dad still in the state senate. i think that's what you'll see him do. i think you'll see him go back to florida. give speeches. maybe he goes in the administration in to bide some time for a year, but i don't think he's coming back to the congress. >> dana, do you think with without the backing from you know, the ethics committee republicans on the ethics committee basically listened to trump and speaker johnson and said, okay, yeah, yeah, fine. we'll bury this report do you think in the absence of trump like pushing for him that they'll say well, actually, you know, maybe this should be maybe we do like, not like gates so much that this should be public. >> i don't think i can think of any figure who is as unpopular within his own party on capitol hill as matt gaetz is, so i it

wouldn't surprise me at all to see them put that sort of thing out and, i mean, i know technically, yeah, he could go back to congress. i don't think that suits him and man, there's 220 republicans who really don't want to see that. so i think brad's right. you know, he's already, you know, a year or two ago he was talking about the governor's run. yeah. and maybe he can have a little sinecure in the administration until then. >> but can i just say also, if he goes and runs for governor, there will be opponents digging up oppo, trying to get their hands on that report and putting it out there. i mean, just just because he goes and runs for governor doesn't make him immune from the political ramifications of people who will be gunning to take him down in that race. and i would i would imagine that even if the report is not officially released, it will make its way into the bloodstream if he's running for governor. >> well and molly, this goes back to this question about, you know, donald trump has broken so many rules and maintain support from voters despite a whole range of conduct that in the past, people would have assumed would be disqualifying. this does raise the question to me, is do

those rules still only apply to donald trump? right. because here we have someone who has, you know, allegations that are obviously extraordinarily troubling uh, and he seems to be paying a price for it in a way that perhaps >> yeah. no, i think that's the only way that, uh that there might be a sort of downside for gaetz out of this episode. i mean, for the most part, you know, people i've talked to say he can write his own ticket in maga world right? he's shown himself to be extremely loyal to trump. he's shown himself to be willing to, you know, put himself out there and put himself up for for this position and take a lot of heat for it. if he wanted a position in the administration, it's likely he could find something as, as dana said, he's been talking about running for governor for some time and has been expected to enter that field, but it's likely to be a crowded field. and i think to to kate's point, he's not going to be the only republican in that primary. he has made a lot of enemies, mostly in washington, but some in florida as well. and and because it's such a strong red state now,

there's just a lot of republicans and a lot of trump loving republicans who see themselves as potential candidates for that office. so it's not going to be a clean shot for him in any way. and the fact that this has all been now aired out in public, whether or not that report comes out, i think it just has, has, has made it a much bigger story than it might otherwise have been. you know, had had this episode never happened. yeah. everyone would know. oh, he was you know, investigated by the ethics committee or whatever, but but i don't think there would be quite as much focus on it or as much public knowledge about what exactly he was charged with penetrated our consciousness. >> yeah, no pun intended yikes. >> all right. sorry. it's a family program coming up next on cnn this morning, donald trump gearing up for his next fight michael smerconish is here to discuss trump's second administration and the team he's been assembling, plus a severe escalation. >> how will ukraine respond after russia tests out a new missile on the eastern front? we're live in kyiv. after the break

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you by guilt. visit gilt.com today for up to 70% off designer brands guilt has a designers that get your heart racing at insider prices new every day. >> hurry, they'll be gone in a flash. designer sales at up to 70% off shop gilt.com today welcome back. >> ukrainian president russia's latest attack a severe escalation of war putin says the new non-nuclear missile targeted at the dnipro region on thursday came in response to ukraine firing american missiles into russia earlier this week. >> we should we consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military objects of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our objects and in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as decisively and in kind. >> all right. cnn's nick paton walsh is live for us in kyiv.

nick, the ukrainian military claimed had claimed earlier that the weapon used by the russians was an icbm. and of course, that raised serious alarm in the west. you're in the field. i explain what we're seeing and what's happening there yeah. >> look, i mean, it's important not to classify a weapon that does appear to have not been used or seen by many western officials until yesterday. what is clear at this point from the speech from the kremlin head, is that he called this the oreshkin, the sorry, the oreshnik the hazelnut, and said this was a new non-nuclear hypersonic missile. western officials have pointed out the fact that it's clear from the visuals you can see that this used multiple separate warheads that came from one particular missile. and mirv are multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. you can see in the video the multiple different strikes that came from this one singular device

that sort of mechanism is normally associated with the nuclear payload, but wasn't used in this case. and indeed the range over which it was fired would probably classify as a medium range ballistic missile, even though it's probably able to fly a further distance. what we've heard from ukrainian defense officials today their intelligence calling this the kedder missile and making a fairly similar conclusion. but i think the underlying message here was the kremlin trying to show that they have new tools in their arsenal, tools that you might normally associate with nuclear payloads and that they're able and willing to use them. now in a conflict like this. and most importantly, the message from the kremlin said these can evade all western air defenses and, of course, air defenses here in ukraine as well hearing from the kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov today, he has called this a response to western escalation that he called reckless escalation escalation, both sides accusing the other of recklessness here and now, the use of an

extraordinary new weapon, it seems, by the kremlin trying to send a signal whether that's heard, whether that dampens tensions. highly unlikely. casey. >> all right. nick paton walsh for us live in kyiv. nick always grateful to have you. thanks very much for being there all right. time now for weather. parts of california, the pacific northwest, facing potentially record breaking rainfall and flooding whiteout conditions with nearly two feet of mountain snow also there. let's get to our meteorologist. our weatherman derek van dam. derek! it's back. the polar bear. this is the best friday video we have all day. what are you seeing yeah. >> who doesn't want to start their weekend off on this note? right? a polar bear playing around in the first snow of the season chicago heights. they got to enjoy it today. yesterday as well. three inches of snow for them at o'hare. you have to go back to march of this year for their last measurable snowfall. so it's been some time now. this is the storm system responsible for bringing the snowfall to parts of the midwest. it's now

bringing snow to the catskills and the higher elevations of central pennsylvania. but remember that little fire that we talked about in northern new jersey, the jennings creek fire that sent smoke billowing into new york city unfortunately killed a firefighter as well. well, there are elevations here that are reporting over a half a foot of snowfall. so mother nature doing its best to help quell and extinguish that flame. 90% containment likely be completely contained by the weekend. this is the evolution of the storm system. it will bring rainfall to the coastal areas of new england. temperatures are actually going to warm up, so any snow that falls on the ground, it's going to melt by the end of the weekend. hate to be the bearer of bad news. here's the atmospheric river over the west coast. look at these rainfall totals into california. nearly a foot and a half and mamma mia casey, we've got problems here. vineyards in sonoma county have been flooded by this rain oh, god. >> that's depressing. it is the polar bear. >> wine prices go up. bring back the polar bear. yeah. how

do i get to that video? >> all right, well, i hope those our thoughts with those farmers who have vineyards who are going to have a tough road ahead derek van dam for us this morning derek. thank you. have a good weekend. all right. all right. straight ahead here on cnn this morning. it's a case that dominated headlines in our morning roundup. actor jussie smollett's guilty verdict in a hate crime hoax thrown out. plus, donald trump's potential shakeup of the fbi i shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state i get to decide when i get paid. >> it's kind of crazy. we can't choose what we get paid. tom changed that for me. my pay lets me get up to $500 of my pay when i need it. there's no interest, no credit checks, no mandatory fees my pay gives me the freedom to handle anything that life brings. i have big

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>> agw is the only place where this revolution can be global. i love agw wednesday night dynamite, live at eight on tbs ethics committee was told of a second sexual encounter with a woman who was just 17 years old, and instead of getting a response or a comment just about a minute before we were about to go live on cnn, he notified the world that he is withdrawing from consideration as attorney general. >> oh my god, they asked him for a comment and his comment was i quit this is this is like if the mystery gang showed up to a haunted amusement park and the first ghost they saw immediately ripped off his mask and said, all right, fine, you got me. it's matt gaetz hey, and while i'm here, what's your deal, daphne matt gaetz fight for attorney general amid brand new cnn reporting about a second sexual encounter between

gaetz and a minor. >> donald trump calling gaetz yesterday morning to tell him he didn't have the votes for senate tapped ally and former florida attorney general pam bondi as his new choice to lead the doj on capitol hill. the reaction to the gaetz news mixed holy i didn't see that coming. >> i mean, i he seemed very optimistic yesterday. >> i think that this should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should continue to move forward in this matter. >> there's certainly precedent for releasing ethics committee reports after someone has retired from the congress all right. >> joining us now, cnn legal commentator, former trump white house lawyer jim schultz. jim, good morning. very grateful to have you here. were you surprised that this is how this ended? >> no, i wasn't surprised at all. as a matter of fact, i think the day the day that he was nominated, i was on an afternoon show here and said i didn't think he would last. and look, the president trump

knows how to count votes. he was it was clear he wasn't going to get the votes as more information came out. no trump kind of threw him over the side, if you will, because it was he wasn't >> yeah, jim, i mean, can you help us understand, considering, you know, you've spent time in the room with the president elect, how the days of headlines about gates would impact him whether he was frustrated about this or didn't care. >> look, i'm sure that he made the nomination. he went out and supported that nomination and when he found that that the that the votes were wanting, he asked him to step aside or you know, or, you know, said that he didn't have the votes. and representative gates made that decision himself. but regardless, the writing was on the wall. and you know, one thing, president trump doesn't like to do is lose. and if he's going to lose those votes

in front of the senate, he's he's not going to he's not going to stand behind that candidate. >> let's talk for a second about pam bondi the choice that he made to be attorney general after gaetz said that he was going to withdraw his name her profile, of course, quite different than matt gaetz's in terms of the experience that she brings to the job, as well as while she has clearly shown she is loyal to him, doesn't seem to have the kind of baggage that matt gaetz brought to the table. >> no, she's a real prosecutor. she spent time prosecuting cases as a young lawyer, made that up through her career, was the first woman elected attorney general in florida, served served florida honorably. and, you know and is a trump loyalist, no doubt about it. and, you know, no surprise that that's a pick that he made and he's not she's not going to face nearly she's going to get the votes so jim what do you think this means for the department of justice overall because, i mean, as we've been discussing it at the table this morning, there is a real appetite among

republicans in washington and in the senate to change, make changes at the department. look elections have consequences. and, you know, president t has said he wants to make changes at the department. i'm sure that especially at the higher level, there will be sweeping changes in the department of justice, no question about that including fbi director you know, all the all the deputies et cetera.. and you know that's i know no surprise that that's something that i wouldn't be surprised when that happens all right. >> jim schultz, for us this morning jim, very grateful to have you. thanks very much for coming on. >> you bet. thank you. >> all right. so let's turn now to this. donald trump has been planning for months to shake up the fbi, possibly firing the current director, christopher wray, and installing loyalists into top roles instead, it seems his allies in congress at this point are on board trump needs to have the opportunity to appoint his successor, and we need to clean house from top to bottom.

>> and the fbi at the doj, homeland security we need a total and complete housecleaning. >> cnn is reporting that trump has struggled in recent days to find a compromise of selecting a director who can carry out his agenda, but also getting approved by the senate. one option that's on the table naming mike rogers. he's the former michigan congressman, ex fbi special agent to be director and then putting kash patel, who is a conservative firebrand trump loyalist, very controversial one in as his deputy i'd shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. all right. our panel is back. molly ball we kash patel played a very significant role in some intelligence questions and then around january 6th, i. is there a world where, i mean, clearly the trump people think he could not get confirmed? um what is

his presence in the conversation mean? and i guess big picture too. i mean, we're kind of glossing straight over the fact that he seems to want to just fire christopher wray. what does that part mean? >> well, yeah, i think that's where you have to start, because traditionally the justice department and the fbi have been independent from the president, and donald trump has made it clear that he doesn't believe in that. and that he wants to end that arrangement. and he feels that he has a mandate to do that and to clean house. i mean, i think to brad's point earlier, the question is does he want the doj to be neutral to take away what he believes has been the bias and the weaponization against conservatives? or does he want to weaponize it in the other direction because he has said a lot about that, too. he has said a lot about wanting to go after his own political enemies, wanting to seek vengeance and retribution. so is he going to? and so if he's going to put in someone like a kash patel, that would certainly be an indication that he does want to, that his problem is not with the weaponization of the justice

department. his problem was with the direction of that weaponization. and he and he wants to turn it against his enemies, against instead of it being as he sees it, turned against his friends. >> so mike rogers, who is this potential candidate to lead the fbi has been on another network. it was on another network earlier, basically auditioning for the role. let's take a look at a little bit of what he had to say people have lost faith in the fbi and they don't even know it. >> not showing up for a senate hearing they think is there. i mean, that hubris is exactly what people are seeing outside that say, i have lost faith in the fbi. somebody like me, i can i can restore that faith. >> so, brad that faith in the fbi. he's clearly trying to talk to the audience of one in donald trump but at the same time, there seems to be some distrust in maga world of mike rogers. what's your sense of the dynamics? >> well, i think mike rogers was on the intelligence committee was when he was here in washington. i think he has a lot of confidence. i think there's a lot of confidence in

him in both chambers of the of the congress. i think this is the advice and consent process. playing out. you know, i mean, when obama came in, he brought eric holder in as his attorney general who said he was his wingman. john f kennedy picked his brother. so it is, of course, normal for a president to want an attorney general who is close to him. i mean, jeff sessions, who was donald trump's first attorney general, was the only senator to endorse donald trump in the campaign. so this is very normal. and i think mike rogers has a lot of credibility here in washington. i think he is confirmable. i think he developed a relationship with trump on the campaign. he was running for the senate in michigan. trump campaigned in michigan heavily with mike rogers. i think there is a relationship there. so i could see some arrangement like this working. >> does it work with kash patel? it's the number two. >> they would they would be at war with each other. i mean, you got to, you know, look at this. in the larger perspective, the guy who's apparently the big problem here, who's destroyed the fbi, christopher wray was appointed by donald trump. so i think there may be a little worried that mike rogers would be a

repeat of that. i mean, there's even some talk that you know, at least there had been of kash patel getting the number one job over there, which would frankly be a disaster because the fbi does actually some other things, like protect us from terrorists. right? >> so there's that, i mean, and they concluded kash patel can't get through it seems to me. >> yeah. and i think, you know, but i think that also is a reminder. i mean, we we've seen this gaetz situation play out. they clearly, i think, see that patel could not get confirmed. it's also a reminder that you know, there's a lot of, you know, it's sort of easy to message and easy to say, we want to clean house. we, you know, we want to stop the fbi from being a political weapon. but if you put people in place who then, you know, to marley's point, who then kind of aggressively carry out your agenda actually, the american people don't love that. i mean, this was one of the things that people were uncomfortable with in 2020, and one of the reasons they rejected trump in 2020 because they felt like four years of watching trump put people in place who were, you know, who

political agenda in institutions that have traditionally been separate from the president. that was one of the things people didn't like. so there is you know, it's easy in the moment after an election when you, you know, you have won fairly handily, you feel you have a mandate to you know do whatever you want and there will be no political consequences. but i'm not so sure that the spear in how your, your, you know, your government is functioning, um hyper political in this way i actually think there will ultimately be some, some blowback from from folks. >> well, we may be about to find out. all right. ahead here on cnn this morning, the cabinet full of controversies will dig into the confirmation battles ahead for donald trump's picks because michael smerconish is here to discuss on this smerconish friday. plus making america healthy again, one cereal at a time why do we have froot loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients and you go to canada and it's got 2 or 3. >> watch cnn's coverage of

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book.com if you or a loved one have mesothelioma we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. >> call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000. >> i told my wife the other day, i said, i got so many skeletons in my closet that if they could vote, i could be king of the world. >> whether rfk jr. or any of donald trump's other cabinet picks have skeletons in their elect does not seem to care. a number of trump's selections so far finding themselves at the center of various scandals, including misconduct and enabling child abuse. trump, himself a convicted felon seemingly unfazed by the controversies that just a decade ago would likely have sank many of these people in either party new details from the sexual assault allegation against donald trump's defense secretary pick

pete hegseth. >> the article also reports on allegations that robert kennedy jr. sexually assaulted a woman working as a babysitter for his family at the time, my client testified to the house that she witnessed representative gaetz having sex with her friend, a minor. >> representative gaetz paid my client both of my clients for sexual favors. >> a former spacex employee says that elon musk evaluated women based on their bra size. >> president-elect donald trump's pick for education secretary linda mcmahon, is being sued for allegedly enabling the sexual abuse of children >> and it's friday, which means it's time for michael smerconish cnn political commentator, and of course, the host of cnn's smerconish. michael. wonderful to see you. you stack it all together that way and it's really quite striking. the scale of the challenges facing some of these nominees. and the president elect is does not seem to care

about any of it. what does this all say about our country and our culture and our tolerance for this kind of thing? >> it's nice to be with you, casey. although i thought i was booked to speak on the froot loops issue. >> i was here to make a case for captain crunch hand to god, that was my breakfast cereal this morning. on a more serious matters. on more serious matters, the president elect just received 17 days of cover by matt gaetz because that's the number of days, i think, that have elapsed since the election. and for most of that time, we've spoken about matt gaetz and any minute that we've spoken about matt gaetz is a minute not having spoken about pete hegseth robert f. kennedy jr., tulsi gabbard and kristi noem. they're the ones with angst today, because if i'm robert f kennedy jr. or pete hegseth in particular, i'm saying, oh, my god. now the media is going to have more time to focus on all of us. surely donald trump knew that

this was going to be a very difficult pick to get through. there was some utility in it for gates because arguably he was able to therefore get out of the house. did you notice that nobody else who's been nominated has resigned from the house? but he did why? because he thought he could thwart the release of that ethics committee report. so i think there's more going on here than meets the eye. and that it's not a total loss for the incoming trump administration and the question is how much bandwidth does the senate now have to oppose any of the other nominees? >> yeah. from that perspective, michael, i mean who do you think is next in line in terms of people being willing to? because this has been the question i've had all the way along. right. it's going to cost political capital for senate republicans to oppose trump's picks in this kind of world where the maga base demands. so much. and many of these senators are up for reelection right. they may face primaries, but then they'll

also face general elections. who do you think is next up in terms of people who, you know, it may be controversial or difficult for someone like susan collins to vote for pete hegseth, considering the allegations, but where do you think the line is drawn next? >> if i had to rank them in terms of potential peril pete hegseth would be at the top of the list, followed by tulsi gabbard bobby kennedy would come in third and kristi noem would come in fourth. and i'm not saying that any of them are going to suffer a defeat a la matt gaetz. but in terms of the risk level, that's how i see it. and hegseth is at the top and what remains to be seen is whether we ever meet the accuser. in that case, people i talked about this extensively on radio yesterday and went through all the coverage in terms of what was in that monterrey document release. the 22 pages. i can tell you that callers saw in it what they wanted to see in it. it's a he said she said as we know it now and some were just inclined to take his side and some were inclined to take her side. what

would break that maybe, is if she came forth and we got to look at her and judged her credibility. >> yeah. i mean, always a difficult, difficult reality for anyone in that kind of a situation. michael briefly, you mentioned tulsi gabbard. the issue with her in your view, and actually the person i'm watching on that one is mitch mcconnell well i mean, some of the statements that she's made in the past, i don't just accept, you know, the talking point that she's a russian agent and is here to do putin's bidding and so forth. >> but nevertheless, there are a number of things that she has said in the past that i think are are ripe fodder for a confirmation hearing and how far they want to go in the questioning with she and the others. at the risk of antagonizing, you know, the incoming president. i mean, that's that's the issue, i should say one other thing, which is that he was elected. he was elected to be a disruptive force. that was the appeal for many who voted for donald trump. and so, by

definition you're not going to get conventional characters, you're not going to get a rex tillerson in this go round, given the platform on which donald trump was elected yeah for sure. >> all right. michael smerconish, for us, sir. always great to see you. have a wonderful weekend. and of course, everyone watching remember, tune in to smerconish tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. eastern, right here on cnn all right it's 53 minutes past the hour. here's your morning roundup. actor jussie smollett's conviction for staging a hate crime hoax has been overturned. the illinois supreme court stating the case should never have been prosecuted in 2019. the empire star made a deal with the state's attorney, who then dropped the charges. but then a special prosecutor was brought in. he was charged again and then convicted that conviction now thrown out. smollett maintains his innocence. the death toll rising after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in laos. an australian teenager, now the sixth foreign tourist to die. one american has also died. authorities believe that they

were killed by drinking tainted alcohol democratic incumbent senator bob casey has conceded the pennsylvania senate race to republican challenger dave mccormick. casey lost his seat by less than a quarter of a point in an incredibly tight race that did go to a recount. republicans will now have a 5347 seat majority in the next congress two of the world's richest men publicly squabbling on social media over donald trump elon musk tweeted, just learned tonight at mar-a-lago that jeff bezos was telling everyone that trump would lose for sure. so they should sell all their tesla and spacex stock. bezos responded nope. 100% not true. musk's own company x, put a content warning on it. community note clarifying the statement molly ball this jeff bezos versus elon musk. i like especially on

the spacex question it's like these two billionaires like fighting with each other in public. like what? >> well they all just want to go to space, right? they're all building. they're building their big toys, their rockets. and you know going after each other on social media. i think elon and his persona has really showed these other billionaires how out there they can be. they can be out there in public. they can be, you know taking shots at each other and saying what they feel like on social media. they don't have to be sort of up there in their little towers where they never talk to us that's not because we're all going to benefit from this new reality. >> all right, let's turn now to this a nostalgic cereal. it's now at the center of a political fight loo, loo loo loo loo that's right, froot loops. the wall street journal reporting that the company that makes the colorful cereal has, quote, been under fire for months over its use of artificial food dyes. now one of the company's highest profile critics, robert f. kennedy jr. has been tapped to become the country's top health

official and has vowed to target artificial dyes in cereal that he says contribute to widespread health problems particularly in children. kennedy, calling out the manufacturer department is like the nutrition departments at fda that are that have to go that are not doing their job, they're not protecting our kids. >> why do we have froot loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients? and you go to canada and it's got 2 or 3. reporter. >> all right. our panel is back. and you want a froot loops fan. did you grow up on froot loops? of course. yeah. >> kellogg's cereal. you know, sugar smacks and the whole bit. >> i mean, look, kennedy is not wrong about this. this journal story. i don't know if we have it produced, but like when you look at the difference between american froot loops and right there, right here, the blue bowl and then the canadian ones are right here. i mean, like, it's obvious, right, that we put a lot more i mean, our junior probably calls it crap in the cereal. the company

says, well, no, that's not the case. but i mean dana, like, maybe there's a point. i mean, it'd be obvious we'd all be healthier if we had cocoa krispies instead of froot loops, but you know, look, robert f. kennedy jr., let's remember he he is. >> or at least was a creature of the left. there's a lot of stuff on his agenda, whether it's taking on big pharma or healthier food that a lot of people can support. now, you know there's the other question of, you know, are we going to have some deadly bird flu outbreak? and he's not going to let us have a vaccine? well, that's a different matter. but it's a very complex character. so i think there's a lot of things. a lot of people in maga world are not going to be at all pleased with his agenda. >> it's a complicated nomination. i don't know that we've ever had a nominee for a cabinet that's this polarizing and not in a hot way right? i mean, like either robert kennedy is a froot loop or he's going to fix froot loops, you know? i mean, like, that's that's the whole show to deliver that line. >> yeah, exactly. >> that's that's the question that we'll answer in the hearings, you know, so i don't

know, there's i mean, look, you know, as a mother of small children, i mean, yeah, this is an appealing argument. >> i mean, yes, there are too many chemicals in our food. there's too much sugar in our food. so this is a space where he's going to be able to rally the left. he's going to be able to rally moderates. this is he can build a you know, a coalition of moms. i mean it is a complicated nomination because that is an incredibly, i think will be a very effective line of argument for him but you counterbalancing that with somebody who has said that decades and decades of medical science behind vaccines is not accurate, is not right, is not true. um that weighs heavy on moms too. >> so how you, like, are you going to fix the food? but then is my kid going to go to school and are their schoolmates going to have the measles vaccine? >> right, right, right. and i think there are probably plenty of qualified nominees who could run hhs, who would take on the fight about, you know, our overproduced food without also bringing along this baggage of suggesting that vaccines that

work don't work. >> it's possible he ends up in some role that lets him fix froot loops, but not lets him be in charge of measles vaccines. >> also true also, the other question too, is, you know republicans have not traditionally been the party that wants more government regulation on ingredients in food and so when he comes before the senate and he is saying you can't have basically food coloring, even if there's no evidence that it's harmful in any way. >> and we're going to put all these, you know, additional regulations on what exactly you know, ingredients companies can use what the government considers healthy, what the thresholds are for that, i don't know how many conservatives are going to be on board with a really aggressive regulatory agenda when it comes to the food industry or any other. >> i mean, we could dig up the tape of when michelle obama was talking about children's lunches and what the things that were said on places like fox news about it really contradict what, especially in an environment where everybody's worried about cost of groceries and companies are going to argue, well, it's only going to make it more expensive and it's going to be hard to