it's wednesday, november 20th, 2024.

this is "cbs news mornings." digging in. president-elect donald trump standing firm behind matt gaetz, his controversial pick for attorney general, even as some republican senators question his qualifications. escalating war. missiles into russia for the first time as the white house green lights sending another weapon of war to ukraine. and historic storm. a powerful bomb cyclone is hammering the pacific northwest with rain, snow, and hurricane-force winds. good morning, i'm michael george. new scrutiny over elon musk's growings influence with donald trump. the president-elect joined the ceo at a test launch in texas as he continues putting together his new administration. trump is quickly filling out his cabinet, tapping two more loyal allies and a well-known celebrity doctor. and today two of trump's most controversial picks, matt gaetz and pete hegseth, will be on

capitol hill with vice president-elect j.d. vance working to win over some skeptical republican senators. cbs' naomi ruchim joins us with the latest. this is really the first test of the trump administration's influence. >> reporter: right. and michael, those republican senators definitely have their work cut out for them in terms of convincing folks to get these confirmations today. the meetings come as what's being called an unknown and unauthorized third party has gained access to two dozen depositions of witnesses tied to the various investigations into former representative matt gaetz, trump's pick for attorney general. a lawyer for two of his accusers has come forward detailing their testimony that gaetz paid them for sex including one who was 17 at the time. president-elect donald trump has revealed more picks to his incoming administration. among them, transition adviser and billionaire businessman howard lutnik for commerce secretary.

his former small business administrator linda mcmahon, co-founder of wwe with husband vince mcmahon, to be secretary of education. also tv personality dr. mehmet oz as trump's choice to lead the centers for medicare and medicaid services. yesterday in texas, trump joined spacex ceo elon musk, now one of his closest advisers, at the test launch of the company's largest vessel. musk has been tapped to co-chair trump's newly created department of government efficiency, though musk's companies, spacex and tesla, have more than $13 billion in government contracts. trump was questioned over his controversial choice of former florida congressman matt gaetz to be the next attorney general. >> are you reconsidering the nomination of matt gaetz? >> no. >> reporter: but even some members of his own party have expressed doubts that gaetz can be confirmed by the senate. >> i wouldn't bet my house on it

one way or the other. >> reporter: today the house ethics committee meets amid calls for it to release its report probing allegations against gaetz of sexual misconduct, including claims that he had sex with a minor. gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and says the allegations are a smear. and despite the growing controversy, president-elect donald trump is standing by his pick. his team called the allegations against gaetz baseless, saying they're intended to derail the new administration. democrats, however, want the report released to congress and to the public. michael? >> all right. we'll be following it. thanks a lot. turning to the war in ukraine and an attack russia is calling a major escalation. ukraine for the first time used long-range american-made missiles to strike inside russia, and it comes as the biden administration agreed to provide ukraine with anti-personnel land mines which can be used to slow russia's

ground advances. holly williams reports from kyiv. >> reporter: u.s. officials say ukraine fired eight american-made atacms into russia. this shows a launch, though we can't verify it. the target was a military facility in the bryansk region of southern russia according to the russian defense ministry. u.s. officials say the russians may have shot down two of the missiles. powerful weapons with a maximum range of close to 200 miles. >> first of all it's going to help our troops right now at the front lines. >> reporter: this is a member of ukraine's parliament who told us she lobbied the u.s. government to allow ukraine to use the atacms deep inside russia. are you angry that the u.s. didn't give ukraine permission earlier to use the atacms deep inside russia? >> i'm disappointed that every decision that the u.s. government is making comes about six months later than it was

needed. >> reporter: russia accuses the u.s. of adding fuel to the fire, and vladimir putin approved a change in russia's nuclear doctrine -- lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike. a u.s. official called that irresponsible rhetoric. president biden allowed the broader use of atacms after more than 10,000 north korean soldiers were deployed to russia, bolstering moscow's forces. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskyy, warned that number could grow to 100,000. >> focused on winning this war -- >> reporter: holly williams, cbs news, kyiv. one of the strongest storms to hit the pacific northwest is pummelling the region. the powerful bomb cyclone that strengthened rapidly over the past 24 hours is bringing torrential rain, snow, hurricane-force winds, and a dangerous threat of flooding to northern california, oregon, and other areas through tomorrow.

up to 18 inches of rain will fall in parts of northern california, and up to four feet of snow in the mountains. hundreds of thousands of customers have already lost power in washington state. the head of fema says she supports an independent investigation into allegations that some hurricane relief efforts were biased against supporters of president-elect donald trump. deanne criswell told lawmakers she wants the agency's inspector general to look into whether a now-fired employee acted alone when directing workers in florida to skip homes with yard signs supporting trump. >> do not believe that this employee's actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at fema, and i am committed to ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again. >> the fired fema employee says she's a scapegoat and claims she was following fema protocol to avoid homes with trump signs. now to the trial of the man accused of murdering nursing student laken riley.

the defense will begin presenting its case today, but the suspect, a venezuelan man in the u.s. illegally, will not testify in his own defense. yesterday riley's mother wept as prosecutors presented her final text messages before resting their case. cbs' manuel bojorquez reports from the georgia courthouse. >> reporter: in court prosecutors played video captured by a university of georgia campus safety camera at 9:05 a.m. showing the final moments laken riley was seen alive. her mother sobbed as prosecutors showed riley's final text at 8:55 a.m. good morning, about to go for a run if you're free to talk. her mother tried to reach her five times texting her, you're making me nervous not answering while you're out running. are you okay? she sent a text at 11:47 a.m. pleading, please call me, i am worried sick about you. over that three-hour period her mother tried to contact riley nine times. prosecutors say riley's smart

watch showed her heart stopped at 9:28 a.m. after she was murdered they say by jose ibarra. police found her body at 12:38 p.m. in a wooded area. the day after riley was killed, police body camera video shows officers waking ibarra up to question him about the case and the injuries on his arms. >> i asked what happened there, and he said that he had a scratch. but he didn't exactly explain from where or how. >> reporter: a forensic dna expert testified the dna found under riley's fingernails belongs to ibarra. >> the match was to jose antonio ibarra. the match is two million times more probable than coincidental match to an unrelated person in the population. >> reporter: ibarra has pleaded not guilty. he waived right to a trial by jury, so the judge will decide his fate. that could happen as early as tomorrow. manuel bojorquez, cbs news, athens, georgia.

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prosecutors to destroy notes taken from sean "diddy" combs' jail cell. federal authorities took photos of 19 pages of notes found in the music mogul's cell during a massive contraband sweep at the metropolitan detention center in brooklyn. yesterday in court combs' lawyers argued they were personal notes containing information protected by attorney-client privilege. combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. the "associated press" says house speaker mike johnson signaled support for a republican proposal to ban the first transgender person elected to congress from using women's bathrooms. democrat sarah mcbride was elected to the house this month from delaware. republican representative nancy mace is proposing a resolution prohibiting lawmakers and house employees from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex. mace says the bill is aimed specifically at mcbride. and the "wall street journal" says attorneys for conspiracy theorist alex jones

are suing the satirical news outlet "the onion" and some sandy hook families over their deal to buy jones' website, "infowars." "the onion" along with families -- with the support of families from the 2012 sandy hook elementary school massacre, won a bankruptcy action last week to buy in"infowars." jones filed for bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay the nearly $1.5 million in defamation lawsuits to families. jones' attorneys claimed there was fraud and collusion in the bankruptcy auction process. coming up ahead, bargain dream home. you can buy a house in italy for the price of a coffee, but there's a catch. some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. okay, let's get going. can everybody see that? like you know to check your desktop first, before sharing your screen. ahh..that is not. uhh, oh no. no no no. i don't know how that got in there. no. that, uhh. yeah, checking first is smart. okay, uhh. everybody get out.

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the country if donald trump won the election a deal that sounds too good to be true. the small town of ollolai on the island of sardinia launched an initiative which offers fixer-upper homes for sale to americans for as little as $1. the town is trying to bring in new residents after losing much of its population due to tough economic times. one airline shaking up its menu and a big shakeup at comcast and its cable networks. here's shanelle kaul with today's cbs "moneywatch". >> reporter: another mixed day on wall street as investors keep a close eye on tensions between russia and ukraine. the dow lost 120 points. the nasdaq gained 195, and the s&p 500 was up 23 points. multiple outlets including the "wall street journal" and nbc news are reporting that comcast is expected to announce today a plan to spin off its cable networks msnbc and cnbc into a separate company. the move comes as millions of americans are abandoning the

traditional pay tv bundle for streaming. the spinoff will reportedly take about a year. more flight options coming to frontier airlines' passengers. the low-cost carrier is adding 16 new routes, expanding the airline's service across the u.s. and caribbean. the new routes will launch in february and march across 21 airports. and if you're flying delta, you may soon be able to enjoy a shake shack burger on board. beginning in december, the airline will serve up the restaurant chain's burgers out of flights out of boston but only to first-class passengers and must be selected ahead of time. delta says it plans to expand the offering to additional flights next year. that's your cbs "moneywatch" report for this wednesday morning. i'm shanelle kaul, cbs news, new york. up next, prince harry getting some ink. harry enlists singer jelly to promote an important cause. s launching something huge.

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guitarist vic flick who played the iconic riff on the james bond theme recorded back in 1962. he died last week. flick also played on hundreds of hit songs for artists including petula clark, tom jones, the bee gees, and nancy sinatra. he was celebrated as a musician's musician. vic flick was 87. it's most likely the end of an era for men's pro tennis and rafael nadal. the 38-year-old spanish player lost in a davis cup singles match yesterday. his first singles loss at the tournament since 2004. he previously said he would retire after that competition. the tennis great saying good-bye to fans with tears in his eyes. mattel has figured out what to get the woman who has it all for her birthday. the toy company is out with a rita moreno barbie to celebrate the star's 93rd birthday. part tribute collection to honor trailblazing female figures.

and prince harry and country star jelly roll are sealing their new deal in ink, but without paper. >> practically -- pretty much. trust me, you wouldn't want nobody else doing this but me. >> yeah? >> like a baby getting its first haircut. >> reporter: they teamed up for a cheeky ad for the 2025 invictus game. jelly roll agreed to perform at the closing ceremony in exchange for giving harry his first tattoo. and jelly roll insisted it be on his neck. >> is that your name? does that say jelly roll? you put your name on my neck? wait. >> the tattoo includes the invictus games "i am" logo, and yes, jelly roll added more for fun. the tattoo is not in. the invictus games take place in vancouver and whistler, canada, in february. coming up on "cbs mornings," "gladiator ii" week continues. "gladiator 2" week continues. es pop and fizz when you throw them back.

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