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It's Thursday, December 5th, right now on CNN This Morning.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack. On the run, still no sign of the CEO assassin who escaped in New York. But he may have left clues on the shell casings and... Now we're going to fight like hell. There's no reason to back down. Remaining defiant, Donald Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon, refusing to bow out of a tough confirmation fight amid mounting allegations of misconduct and...

We feel like we failed. It's tough. A tragic loss, recovery efforts continue to find a Pennsylvania grandmother believed to have fallen into this sinkhole. Plus, transgender rights taking center stage at the Supreme Court. Why justices may be leaning toward a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in one state.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, where it looks as to be blizzarding in New York City. I did look down at my phone and saw, hey, we're going to get snow in a few hours. And, hey, here it is. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. Pete Hegseth, defiant in the face of an uncertain confirmation fight in the Senate. So do you feel confident after your meetings today that we confirmed? Great meetings with all the senators today. Are you confident? We feel confident every day.

That confidence set to be tested again today as Trump's pick to leave the Pentagon returns to Capitol Hill later on. Hegseth vowing to fight like hell as he tries to win over Republican senators made skeptical by multiple reports alleging that he engaged in sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and abused alcohol.

Hegseth has denied all wrongdoing. Yesterday mounted a public defense in an interview with fellow former Fox host, Megyn Kelly. I've never had a drinking problem. No one's ever approached me and said, oh, you should really look at getting help for a drink. Never. I've never sought counseling, never sought help.

Last night, the Washington Post reporting this, quote, at Fox News, Hegseth had a reputation as a heavy drinker, according to six former Fox News employees who worked directly with Hegseth and saw him drinking on the job or visibly drunk at work events. And he spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, end quote. Through his lawyer, Hegseth denied the reports when he was asked for comment by the Washington Post, quote,

But he is clearly aware of how central the issue of alcohol has become to his confirmation. Here was the incoming chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, telling CNN about a promise that Hegseth made in their meeting yesterday. The allegation was made about him being intoxicated several times. And so the questions that

Every member will be asking him, let him be seen. And he can't stop drinking altogether if he becomes Secretary of Defense. As of last night, CNN sources tell us there are more than three Republican senators who are uncertain how they'll vote on Hegseth's nomination. If more than three Republicans join all Democrats in voting no, that would sink him. And Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, also a member of the Armed Services Committee, says that the number could be much higher.

I think this nomination is doomed. I've talked to five to ten Republicans who have said to me they're just waiting for the right moment to say no to Pete Hesse.

All right, our panel's here. Stephen Collinson, CNN Politics senior reporter. Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios. Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former communications director for the Biden White House. And Aaron Perrine, Republican strategist at Axiom Strategies. Welcome to all of you. Thank you all for being here this morning. Stephen Collinson, let me start with you big picture because what we saw from Hegseth, of course, yesterday was trying to show Donald Trump that he was willing to fight this, to push forward.

on this and of course he was going into the Senate offices and apparently promising him promising them that he won't drink as defense secretary what do you make of it all he seems to be adopting the Kavanaugh defense trying to make this about something bigger than just his own qualifications saying that he's the victim of partisan witch hunts etc

I think it's pretty clear that there are enough Republicans who don't want to vote for him and they don't even want a hearing which could turn into a real circus just before President-elect Trump takes office next year. I think for Hegseth, what he has to do is keep this going, try and push it into next year because then it becomes a direct decision by a Republican senator to openly defy in a Senate vote the new president. And that's a much more difficult situation for them

than they have now. It looks like several of them might want it to actually just go away. Go away entirely. I mean, Alex, one of the, the audience, of course, for Hegseth yesterday in that interview was largely Trump, right? I mean, going out and doing something like that is more likely to anger senators than it is to help

But for Trump, this is the way he consumes things, obviously. But this is what the Post said about where Trump is on Hegseth. They write this, quote,

Trump has been troubled by the allegations about Hegseth's excessive drinking, said two people familiar with his thinking. Trump does not drink alcohol, he frequently tells those around him. So again, we started this conversation about Hegseth with this allegation of sexual assault, but it may be the drinking that is the real problem for Donald Trump. And there's sort of an internal contradiction with his answers here, which is like, I've never had a problem, I've never reported a problem, but he's also saying, I'm not going to drink at all.

"If I'm secretary, well, if you don't have a problem, why are you promising not to drink?" And I don't think you can underestimate the visceral experience. Donald Trump doesn't talk much about his personal life. The experience with his brother is something he actually talks about very frequently on the trail as something that was sort of a defining experience. And so take out the stuff that

the allegations, the stuff that they're denying, the fact that there are particular instances of him saying, hey, I came back from war, I was drinking, and that he has basically admitted that he was tomcatting around, for lack of a better term. I think both those things are troubling a lot of Republicans. Well, and to that point, Aaron,

the post story that starts out with something that he said on a podcast in August of 2021. So not even that long ago. And he said that his heavy drinking started after a brush with death when an RPG ricocheted off his vehicle. It didn't explode while he was serving in Iraq.

with an army infantry unit. And when he returned home to a Manhattan apartment after the deployment ended in 2006, he said he was disconnected from the people that he served with, from his wife. I look around at 10 o'clock and be like, what am I going to do today? How about I drink some beers? So this is, you know, he is recounting here, and it's tragic, right? It's really difficult, but it also contradicts deeply what he said yesterday, where he said, I never had a problem.

This is a warfighter who came home and was clearly struggling as so many do. And acknowledging that first and foremost, I think is really the key thing here because I have not served my country in capacity in war. I can only imagine how terrifying that is and how hard it must be to come home and feel completely disconnected from the world around you having seen that. He does admit that he drank a lot.

But he seems to think that he has this under control. And if you've never been through the confirmation process and sat in a meeting with a senator, even if you've interviewed them and you feel comfortable with them, if they say, will you tell me you won't drink? You'll take the answer and say, even if you don't think you have a drinking problem, you know what? I won't drink. What I really think we're seeing here from Pete Hegseth is part of what Trump wanted in these nominees was, can you fight the battle of

the political opinion in the court of public opinion on media. That's what Hegseth's doing here. We know that when Trump was going through the selection process, he had tape of people defending him on camera. That was an important point. Will this pay off with somebody like Pete Hegseth? I think this is a test case to that about Trump's selections.

Yeah. And of course, Kate, the real question is, what are these senators going to do? And Joni Ernst in particular is someone who she did meet with him yesterday. Let's watch the moment where she was not one of these people who came out and, you know, oftentimes supporters will put out a picture of the two of them because obviously this is going to be a significant Washington player in their view. That's not what happened here. Instead, she was caught up, caught with reporters in the hallway. Let's watch that moment.

It was a frank and thorough conversation. It's a tough road for him, but it is 100% doable. It's not 100% clear to me who he wants as Secretary of Defense right now.

So that was a series of senators, obviously, but that Joni Ernst moment where she says she had a thorough conversation, what do you take away from that? Also, so her feet never stop moving. And generally, if you don't want to answer a question, I'll give you an insider's communications look at how you avoid answering a question you don't want to answer. You keep your feet moving. You keep walking. So I think her body language, in addition to what she said, suggests that she's not

There's a lot of space there if she needs to be persuaded. I think it's also interesting, it seems telling that we really haven't heard from Trump. I mean, yesterday was such a critical day for Hegseth, such a tipping point moment potentially for the nomination and we didn't hear from Trump at all.

which also seems very telling if he wanted to put his muscle behind fighting for Hegseth, you would think we would have heard from him. Exactly, exactly. But it's so interesting to me that Trump and the Trump team are so opposed to the vetting process when this is what a vetting process saves you from. I mean, this is what an intense dive into somebody's background before you put them out on the public stage

and then have to endure all of this questioning. This is what it protects you from. So it's interesting to me that they are so adamantly against the vetting process when they're now looking at potentially their second nominee going down. I do think you make one point there that's interesting, which is that as of this point, we haven't seen Trump spend political capital on any of these nominees.

He's not making calls around. We're not hearing reporting that he's trying to push folks. He did a little bit early on Matt Gaetz. We had heard there might have been some conversations and phone calls. You're not hearing that now. So Trump's saying, hey, you guys figure this out. I've put forward who I want. And if it changes, it changes. Yeah. Erin, I do have to ask you about the fact that there's other names being floated out there, right, including Ron DeSantis. Here were a couple of senators talking about the possibility that Ron DeSantis might be defense secretary yesterday. Let's watch.

He's, you know, served in the military, so I think he has what you would look at on paper as the requisite kind of experience you would want in a Secretary of Defense. I'm considering voting yes on DeSantis if he finally admits that he has lifts in his boots. I'm sure he does. Maybe three inches, four inches at least.

So that aside, with Fetterman there, I mean, Mark Kelly, serious guy from a red state, basically saying, yeah, I might vote for Ron DeSantis. But is Trump serious about it? There are other names being floated, and Governor DeSantis does have a really compelling story if he were to be put forward.

He was a JAG attorney. He did cover a SEAL team and deploy with them into active combat. He has really seen a lot. He's been the chief executive of Florida. We've seen what he can do politically. We've seen what he can do in the state. But he does have a very strong military background that really could bode well for him. The fact that there are other names being floated and not smacked down immediately means Trump's flirting with the idea a little bit. Yeah, and those senators are clearly trying to tempt him.

- Oh, yeah, a little leg. - Being like, "Oh, we'll confirm this guy real fast." - Yeah, all of these problems will go away. - All evaporate. All right, up ahead here on CNN this morning, "Man on the Loose." That manhunt is still underway for the gunman who shot down the CEO of America's largest healthcare company.

Plus, transgender rights lands at the Supreme Court where justices appear to stand for a Tennessee ban for gender-affirming care for minors. And blanket pardons. Could President Biden issue preemptive pardons for some of Trump's enemies? Jack Smith's name is on my list. Liz Cheney's name is on my list. I think that they all should be preemptively pardoned.

I know you're busy. We all are. But if you have 15 minutes or so every week and want to better understand the news, I've got a podcast I think you should check out. I'm David Rind, and I'm the host of CNN One Thing. Every week, I call up a plugged-in CNN correspondent, and we talk about a story they're covering. We break it down carefully and with context, without the unnecessary noise, so you can get on with your week. Follow CNN's One Thing on iHeartRadio.

Tennessee's elected officials carefully considered the evidence and passed a law to protect Tennessee kids. The Constitution allows this. We look forward to a decision from the court. Our fight for justice did not begin today. It will not end in June, whatever the court decides. We are in this together.

The decision over a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday, the justices heard two hours of arguments in the case over whether the ban is constitutional. The court's conservative majority signaled an openness toward allowing the law to stand. Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to be reluctant to have courts second-guessing state legislatures. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also brought up the topic of women's sports.

Encourage minors to appreciate their sex and ban treatments that might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex sounds to me like we want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls. If you prevail here on the standard of review, what would that mean for women's and girls' sports?

in particular. Would transgender athletes have a constitutional right, as you see it, to play in women's and girls sports? It seems to me that it is something where we are extraordinarily bereft of expertise. The decision expected by July. Kate Bedingfield, how, obviously this case is very sensitive for these families, it's very emotional for people involved.

But it's also become a central part of our political debate. It was in the campaign. And it's clear, and Jeremy Peters wrote about this in the New York Times, that there are shifting opinions around this. He says this, the public does not appear to be growing more empathetic

to the transgender cause fewer americans today than two years ago say they support some of the rights that lgbtq activists have pushed for like allowing children to undergo gender transition treatment according to the public religion research institute multiple recent polls have found a considerable majority of americans believe advocacy for transgender rights has gone too far how does that play into this debate well

Well theoretically it shouldn't, right? I mean the Supreme Court is supposed to be removed in many ways from the back and forth of politics. Obviously the justices are human and they are very much plugged into what's going on politically. But in theory the case should be decided on the merits, on this question of whether the ban is constitutional. Obviously, certainly I think even many Democrats who may

be uncomfortable with some of the leading edge of advocacy on these transgender issues, would I think still argue that a ban that prevents medical care for young people who in some cases may need it, you know, is not a good thing. So I think there are, you know, I think there are grades of nuance here, but, you know, in theory, the politics of the issue shouldn't sway the court, but of course we know that's probably not the way the world works.

Well, I was going to say, you can be supportive of transgender rights, which President Biden has been. But President Biden, I mean, you remember this in 2020. He knew that there were political risks to being on the leading edge, which is why the ACLU questionnaire that really caused Kamala Harris a lot of problems this last election about providing gender-affirming care for detained migrants and stuff. Joe Biden never filled out that questionnaire. And that was an intentional decision during the campaign because they knew that it was a political risk that could be taken advantage of.

by the right and they clearly are trying to press that advantage. It was interesting that the Chief Justice was talking about perhaps we don't have the expertise to talk about this. In a way, the courts and the Supreme Court especially is the place where these things really ought to be addressed because they can be

A very emotive issue can be debated in a way in which it wasn't on the campaign trail, it was completely demagogued. A lot of the talk about these surgeries and therapies was completely taken out of context. But this is an issue which everybody is wrestling with every day, people seeing it in their lives, and that's why it's affecting the politics. And we've got this situation where if legislators are in states responsible for sorting all this out,

What other rights, civil rights, does that then bring in? Does that open questions like interracial marriage, for example? So this has massive reverberations far beyond just this issue. All right, still to come here on CNN this morning, a massive manhunt still underway as police try to locate the suspect who shot and killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Plus, as if life on the road isn't hard enough, the rock band that was robbed at gunpoint.

Alright, 26 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. A real-life Grinch steals $100 worth of Christmas decorations straight from a family's Michigan front yard. Oh, come on. This is ridiculous. Police are looking for two suspects. That's not very nice.

The FBI looking into multiple reports of mysterious drones flying over northern New Jersey. It is not clear who they belong to or who is operating them. Officials say that there is no known threat to public safety. Very strange. And this. We're going to try and find her and make sure that we get her to the family. It's been a rough go. We feel like we failed. It's tough.

The search for a woman who authorities believe fell into a sinkhole, now a recovery effort. Crews say they have found no signs of life. The 64-year-old disappeared while searching for her lost cat on Monday. You're watching cell phone video of the moment popular British band Sports Team was robbed at gunpoint. It happened in California on the way to their first U.S. performance. Their laptops and passports swiped.

Luckily, not their instruments. They did still make it in time for the show. The iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting up the night in New York. The 74-foot tree features 50,000 multicolored lights. The star on the top, get this, made of three million Swarovski crystals. Very pretty. I mean, I watched that on replay. I can never stay up late enough to actually see it in prime time.

All right, time now for weather. The eastern coast of the U.S. feeling a big chill this morning. More snow falling on the Great Lakes region. Let's go to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, we were just looking at this live camera we have of a basically, it looks like there's a blizzard in New York City right now. I have no idea if that's true, which is why you're here. What do you got? No, great question, because we've got this clipper moving through and it's bringing the...

Tense bursts of moderate to heavy snowfall. Now the temperatures are really flirting with freezing there, so it's not going to really accumulate much on the roadways, but just outside of the New York City suburbs. The boroughs there certainly could see some minor accumulation that could cause some localized travel concerns, especially away from the coastline. Now here's a look at the 15 million Americans impacted by winter weather alerts. This is a mixture of winter storm warnings.

and lake effect snow warnings. And by the way, we have a blizzard warning in effect through Saturday morning for Erie, Pennsylvania. This area is just getting walloped with heavy snowfall as we speak. Conditions will become quite difficult to drive near whiteout conditions anticipated right along that

I 90 corridor that we've been talking about that's accumulated so much lake enhanced snowfall lately. Now we have had some wet snowflakes fall in boston minor accumulations there. This is mainly rain near the coast, but again I 95 to the north could see a little bit of that accumulation on the ground. Now this is the look at the

temperatures as you step outside well below freezing for places like Indianapolis to Chicago. It is all because of this clipper and the energy and the wind associated with it. It will be gusty today in New York and temperatures will continue to fall from today. So if you thought it was cold yesterday, wait till you step outside this morning and into this afternoon in the Big Apple. It is going to be chilly.

All right. Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. All right. Straight ahead here on CNN this morning. After pardoning his son Hunter, could President Biden be preparing to issue more pardons, preemptive pardons, before he leaves office? Plus, an assassin on the loose in New York. The clues the suspect left behind in the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

This does not appear to be a random act of violence. The full investigative efforts of the New York City Police Department are well underway, and we will not rest until we identify and apprehend the shooter.

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Welcome back. New clues emerging this morning. Nearly 24 hours after a killer gunned down a health care CEO on the streets of New York City, the gunman is still on the loose. The wife of the victim, UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson, telling NBC News, quote, there'd been some threats. Basically, I don't know, a lack of coverage. I don't know details. I just know that he said that there were some people that had been threatening him. And she suggested that those threats may have involved issues with insurance coverage.

The 50-year-old Thompson was in Manhattan for his firm's annual investors meeting. Now, I do want to warn you, we're going to show you some of the surveillance video of the moments leading up to the shooting. We're not showing the entire clip. It's just too hard to watch. Thompson was walking to his meeting yesterday morning when you can see the gunman emerge from behind him and shoot him.

Moments later, the shooter is seen darting quickly across the street. He was then picked up by surveillance cameras, escaping on a bicycle into Central Park. Before the shooting, the masked suspect stopped at a nearby Starbucks, providing police with the clearest images so far of his face and with potential DNA evidence.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack. We're reaching out to law enforcement in Minnesota and we're also interviewing his co-workers and family members to see if there have been any specific threats against him in the past. As far as who is he in the hotel with, we're doing a search warrant in his hotel room right now that might lead us, give us some more information.

Then there's this from ABC News this morning. The words deny, defend, and depose were found on the shell casings discovered at the scene where Thompson was shot. We're joined now by CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former FBI deputy director, Andy McCabe. Sir, thank you so much for being here. Let's start with what ABC is reporting was found on these shell casings. What does that tell you about this?

Sure, Casey. Good morning. It's tantalizing detail and could be significant in the long term. Unfortunately, right now, it doesn't really give us much more of a bead on identifying who this shooter is.

But I would say that, you know, to go through the almost ritual of writing words or some pieces of a message onto the bullets that you're going to use in an assassination, to me, that raises the strong prospect that this person had some sort of personal connection to this killing. So this is

probably less likely to be someone who was hired to do this and more likely was committed by someone who is emotionally or specifically invested in the act. Right there. It's a level of like personal kind of expression that you would never see from from a hired gun, as it were. So

I know that doesn't really tell us very much, but every little scrap of evidence is something additional that the police have to work with at this point. It's also likely they're checking those bullets and those casings for fingerprints and DNA and things that could actually lead to identifying who he was. Yeah, it's so interesting you put it that way because we initially saw that the use of the silencer, there was all the speculation that this was perhaps

professionally done or someone that knew what they were doing. When you watch that video, what do you see in it in terms of whether this person had training? Because there are elements to it that show he's familiar with firearms on the one hand, but on the other hand, there seem to be a series of things that show sloppiness.

Yeah. Is it sloppy or is it an intentional thing? That's always kind of a bit of a challenge. But so in terms of his skills and his kind of mentality in approaching this crime, there's a lot of indications that it's very highly planned, very high degree of organization. Even his arrival at the site five or 10 minutes before the target gets there indicates possibly some level of

surveillance or intelligence that he was using to know to go to the exact right place at the exact right time is really extraordinary. The way he steps out from the vehicle, first he hides between the vehicles, he allows the target to pass him rather than just jumping out in front of him and confronting him as many people would do.

He allows him to pass him so he can emerge on the sidewalk behind him without drawing his attention. He very coolly and with determination takes his position to shoot. His position indicates a level of training with firearms. He's got the right foot stance. He's got the right grip on the gun.

on the weapon and then he fires in a very precise and cold and calculating way. All that indicates a high degree of organization and a level of proficiency with firearms. Of course, clearing the jam from the firearm adds to that as well. The odd facts are that he goes to Starbucks right before the murder, a place where he is guaranteed to be caught on video.

And that's something, again, that a professional would never do. This to me almost seems like, you know, it's a bit of a, you know, flashing the middle finger to who you know best.

the invest on a photograph that graph that you know the investigators will be looking at later. It also says to me he was not worried at all about being seen in these clothes because he probably had a preset plan to get rid of all those items very quickly after the crime.

So he's probably got additional clothing in that backpack. As soon as he's got a chance, maybe in the park behind some sort of cover, I'm sure he gets rid of the mask. He gets rid of the jacket. He has a totally different look on the top of his outfit there. And that's going to greatly help him blend into the crowd and slip away.

And what do you make of the cell phone and the water bottle that were found at the scene? I mean, is there any reason? I mean, normally you would say, oh, no, like I left my cell phone. That's going to identify me to everybody that even looks at it. But could there be another reason why you might do that intentionally?

You know, we don't know exactly where the police found it, whether they just found it on the street or they found it in a trash receptacle or garbage can. So if it was recovered in a garbage can, then it's an intentional act of trying to get rid of those things. He didn't want to be found and approached or questioned with those articles in his possession. If it was just found on the street, seemingly dropped, that's just a mistake.

And these things happen. Oftentimes people are caught, despite their best planning, they make one tragic mistake, leave behind one piece of evidence that brings the police to their door. So I think for me it would really depend on knowing a little bit more about the detail of where those things were found and how they were found. But at this point, could have been intentional or it could have been just the flaw that unravels this whole thing for him.

- So very briefly, do you anticipate they're gonna catch this guy or do you think he might've gotten away?

I do think they'll catch him eventually. They're very, very good at what they do. They have an enormous surveillance network of video cameras in New York. You also have the public very closely engaged in this, which can help a lot. So I do think that they'll find it. Their hope now probably is that somebody who knows him and maybe has heard him, let's say, utter those three words before or has seen him carrying that backpack or wearing that coat will step forward and help identify him. But they have...

You know, as time goes on, it gets harder and harder, but they also amass more information and people who can help them in the search. All right. Andy McCabe for us this morning. Sir, thanks very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

All right, let's turn out of this story. President Biden sparked a wave of bipartisan backlash this week, announcing the sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter. But according to new Politico reporting, it may not be the only pardon that Biden grants. Jonathan Martin reports this. President Joe Biden's senior aides are conducting a vigorous internal debate

over whether to issue preemptive pardons to a range of current and former public officials who could be targeted with President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House. One House Democrat already has some ideas about who should be on that list. Jack Smith's name is on my list. Liz Cheney's name is on my list.

I think that they all should be preemptively pardoned because I think there are people who Trump may bring into this government who will go after these people in a serious way. And there's no need to subject them to that punishment.

The panel is back. Kate Bedingfield, how real do you think this is? And how important does the White House see this? Oh, I think it's real. I think they are. I mean, look, you heard President Biden and then Vice President Harris on the campaign trail talk about what they believed Donald Trump's abuses of power would mean. And I think that they're taking every opportunity here to explore what

the options they have left in the time that they have left in office to protect people who may be subject to that attack. So yes, I think it is absolutely a serious process they're undergoing. We'll see what the ultimate outcome is. But I would imagine that Biden views this as an opportunity to ensure that people who don't deserve to be targeted in that way aren't.

People in the White House and the Biden campaign and then the Harris campaign had legitimate fears during the race of what would happen if Trump won, really fearing potential legal persecution and also like what the cost would do. That being said, the context here matters and that this is coming right after a lot of Democrats are very upset with how Joe Biden rolled out his partner, his son Hunter, doing it as a one-off campaign.

as being like, oh, I'm very, very concerned about political persecution and I'm only doing my son.

And they're like, well, if you're so worried, then why not include this with lots of other people? And so you have to put it within the context of that. I think that's part of the reason why some of these stories are coming out now. All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning. After their sweeping election losses one month ago, Democrats now trying to chart a path forward. Up next, David Hogg joins us live for his thoughts on why a new generation could lead the party. Plus,

A Senate farewell once a leader in the Republican Party, once the leader of the Republican Party. Mitt Romney bids farewell. There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue, or who debase the values upon which the blessings of heaven depend. We're in the business of preaching as opposed to listening.

We're a party that's very arrogant. We weren't communicating the way that we needed to. We need a complete reboot. We need a complete reboot with the DNC. We need a complete rebranding. Our brand is toxic in so many places.

In the month since their election loss, Democrats have come up with a number of ideas about where they should go from here. This February, they make their first big decision when they will elect a new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Already, the field includes a former governor, a state senator, and a state party chair. But as Politico reported last month, quote, it's the generational divide that is emerging as a crucial factor in determining who will move the party forward.

Politico also reports this, quote, David Hogg, the Gen Z gun rights activist who now runs a PAC that recruits young people to run for office, is a potential candidate for vice chair. He told us he is seriously considering a run. And joining us now is David Hogg, co-founder of Leaders We Deserve, a group that

that is dedicated to electing young progressive candidates for office and he is also a co-chair of March for Our Lives and of course a Parkland school shooting survivor. David, good morning. I'm so grateful to have you. Good morning, happy to be here. So tell us a little bit about this. Are you thinking about running for this leadership post and why? Well honestly I'm considering it because I think that one,

Obviously, I think we need a new generation in the DNC if this election has taught us nothing else. I think we need an intergenerational coalition as a party. But I've spent the past two years or so traveling around the country, working to elect young people and talking to everyday people, knocking on doors in every swing state that you can imagine, and some very red states as well, from starting out in Alabama to places like Texas and Virginia and everywhere in between. And the thing that I've realized more than anything is that

We have a number of problems in the party, but I think the main one overall is that we would rather live in a comfortable delusion than an uncomfortable reality. And I think what the party needs to do is open its eyes and take its fingers out of its ears, basically. What is, when you say delusion, what is the delusion?

I think it's that we can just surround ourselves with people that agree with us a lot of the time in terms of the party leadership and also within the party itself and think that's just who we need to be talking to constantly instead of listening to people who don't agree with us. Not that we inherently agree with them, but I think so much the issue that we have as a party right now is a kind of

condescending tone that we have in a number of ways where we're seen increasingly as elitist as out of touch and i think there are real conversations that we need to have and we also need to have help more not just young people but people from normal backgrounds run for office i think tim wallace is actually a great example of this of running as a teacher and gaining all the experience that he had to out massively outperform even in a trump held district right we need everyday people from teachers

to doctors, to everybody in between to start running for office and help changing the future of this party and the face of this party as well. So you...

on X platform, formerly known as Twitter, as you were reflecting on these losses, you talked about a meeting that you had with the president of the United States, with President Biden. And you said that you regret not telling him not to run, saying it's a permanent nightmare and a lesson that you'll carry for the rest of your life. I mean, why didn't you tell him then? And how do you feel about it now? You know, I still agree with the statement that I made. And

And I think the reality is that so many of us

as Biden was president, didn't want to lose the momentum that we had. You know, he had done the largest climate spending in American history. He'd passed the first federal gun safety law in 30 years. He established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and did so many executive orders and actions on gun violence that we didn't want to stop that progress. But at the same time, somebody who can govern very effectively, especially, frankly, at that age, may not be the best person to run for that position. And I think I was part of that. And I think

Frankly, the reason why I said that too was the hardest part of this time period since the election has been the general sense of a lack of accountability.

that I've heard, where it sounds like in the lead up to the election we heard people say over and over again, Donald Trump is the greatest threat to American democracy. He's a fascist. We need to stop him. We need to stop him. We need to stop him. And then after the election, when I'm hearing conversations with party leadership, when I'm hearing conversations on the news of all these different political leaders and consultants, it's like, oh, you know, we tried our best. That's ridiculous. That is absolutely ridiculous. And that's a loser's mentality.

We need to have actual accountability. And that goes for myself, too, in talking about what I could have done differently. Even though who knows what effect that would have actually had, obviously. At least I would have been able to tell the president what he needed to hear rather than what he wanted to hear. And I know that at least at this stage, I have learned that now. And I'm not going to make that mistake again in the future. Wow. David Hogg, I am fascinated to see where you go from here. I hope you'll come back on the show. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. All right.

It is 55 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Mexican authorities announcing what they call the largest fentanyl bust in the country's history. Over one ton of the synthetic opioids seized in two raids, Mexico's president says the haul was worth nearly $400 million and is keeping more than 20 million doses off the streets.

The price of Bitcoin surging to a new record high. On Wednesday, the cryptocurrency hit $100,000, despite coming just hours after President-elect Trump picked a crypto-friendly ally to take over as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

New guidelines for female golfers. The LPGA and the USGA announcing athletes must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned pre-puberty to compete in women's events. The policy there is set to take place next year. Donald Trump sitting down for his first network interview post-election. He will be joining Meet the Press. According to NBC, the interview is set to take place tomorrow and will air on Sunday.

And on Capitol Hill, Congress is bidding farewell to someone who's been a mainstay of American politics for decades. I will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement, but in truth, I will also leave with the recognition that I did not achieve everything I'd hoped. There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue, or who debase the values upon which

The blessings of heaven depend. A country's character is a reflection not just of its elected officials, but also of its people.

That is Senator Mitt Romney bidding farewell. I have to say, you know, his campaign was the first that I covered from beginning to end on the plane with him. So it's a bit of an era for me as well. But, you know, I have to say, Erin, one of the things we didn't show there that I remember so clearly from that campaign was,

the moment where he and Ann Romney accepted Donald Trump's endorsement when he was the Republican, he was running for the Republican nomination in 2011 and 2012. You can see them there. The scene was about as awkward as it looks, right?

at the time it was preceded by donald trump just absolutely mobbed by cameras and of course romney would often refuse to uh... to talk to the press and of course we saw who won out here i mean this was donald trump's party romney voted twice uh... to convict him of things he was impeached for he was the only republican to do so but it's it's he who is stepping off the stage

It is. There's been a real shift and change, not only in the totality of the Republican Party, but certainly in the leadership of it. We've seen that. You go back through the Boehner era in the House, and now the end of McConnell, and now you're seeing kind of this different old guard of the Republican Party move out and on. But those Senate floor speeches, those farewell speeches, those really are trying to ultimately write the final chapter of your book in the Senate, and they're usually very moving and very statesman forward. And as a Senate institutionalist myself, I really enjoy them.

Yes, they are often moments that people plan for quite a bit, and you could hear some of the things that, you know, Romney's faith, very important to him. You can hear that underneath that speech as well. All right, I'll leave you with this because we're all talking about it, right? This year's Spotify Wrapped is here.

Spotify announcing Sabrina Carpenter's song "Espresso" was the most streamed song globally, while the most streamed artist was, you guessed it, Taylor Swift. Now, no surprise to any of you who watch on the regular, she was my top artist as well.

That's one of my favorites. I think I probably listened to that song a thousand times. However, my top song was actually Billie Holiday's "Blue Moon," which may tell you that I mostly am just spending my time trying to de-stress from doing this every day at home in my living room. But I will say, not everyone is happy with this year's musical roundup. Some outlets are reporting that some people are upset that this year's "Wrapped" doesn't deliver some of the creative statistics that it has in the past.

I have to admit, I don't remember. Steven, though, let's do a quick roundup. Top artist? R.E.M. Never played it out of the 1990s. Okay, well, yeah, you're showing, the generation gap is showing. Alex? Green Day, because I finally saw them. It was like sort of a high school wish. Love Green Day, man. Dookie is like my favorite album. T-Swift, obviously. Obviously. Erin? Mine is Taylor Swift, and not surprisingly, one of the top songs is going to be my first dance song at my wedding. It made my top five list this year, because apparently I can't stop listening to it. Congratulations. What song?

quickly? It is. You're all I need to get by. Oh, I love it. All right, guys, thank you very much for being here and for sharing your Spotify wrapped with us. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now. It's the season to be jolly. Tis the season for the best baking bash of the year. And all kinds of joyous holiday celebrations. And a whole lot of dude flame.

First, my mind was blown, and then it was blown again. Tis the Season 4 Holiday Baking Championship. All new Monday at 8 on Food Network. Stream on Max and Discovery+.