'This Week' Transcript 11-17-24: Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin, Rep. Tony Gonzales, Dr. Richard Besser, and Preet Bharara

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, November 17, 2024 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

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ANNOUNCER: THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS starts right now.

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MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC "THIS WEEK" CO-ANCHOR: The retribution begins.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: We're going to clean out the corrupt, broken, and failing bureaucracies.

RADDATZ: The president-elect sparking alarm with controversial cabinet nominees, including a firebrand Fox TV host to lead the Department of Defense.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: Because I'm straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles.

RADDATZ: Noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary.

TRUMP: He wants to make people healthy. It’s driven him pretty wild over the last number of years.

RADDATZ: And ardent Trump loyalist, now former congressman, Matt Gaetz, to run the Justice Department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He’s got a really steep hill to climb to get lots of votes, including mine.

RADDATZ: Democratic Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin responds to the nominations.

Plus, former CDC Director Richard Besser, former prosecutor Preet Bharara, and analysis from our powerhouse roundtable.

Plus –

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pay some of the highest wages for farm workers in the nation right here in California, and they won't come out.

RADDATZ: We traveled to California farmland to see what Trump's massive deportation plans could mean for farmers and the nation's food supply. Texas Republican Tony Gonzales joins us for reaction.

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ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it’s THIS WEEK. Here now, Martha Raddatz.

RADDATZ: Good morning, and welcome to THIS WEEK.

Donald Trump is wasting no time naming the team he wants around him in a second term. In rapid fire fashion, he announced a series of nominees this week to fill the White House and lead key cabinet departments. Many of them were right by Trump's side last night to attend a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Among them, controversial picks like the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, an amorphous role aimed at slashing federal spending.

While that move raised a lot of intrigue, other picks have raised eyebrows to say the least, and some outright opposition, including Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, despite her critics claiming she has sympathetic views toward Russia. Fox News personality, Pete Hegseth, to lead the Department of Defense despite him having no experience running an organization near the scale of the U.S. military, Matt Gaetz as attorney general, prompting him to step down from Congress, a move that ended an ethics probe into alleged illicit drug use and whether he paid for sex with a minor, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health and Human Services, a massive role overseeing 13 major health agencies, such as the CDC, NIH, and FDA, by someone who has publicized disproven conspiracy theories about vaccines and Covid-19 treatments.

That pick drew rebukes from top health officials, including former Biden White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, who said, “I worry a lot about going backwards just at a time when we have made so much progress in American medicine.” Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, responding that, “the notion that a science denialist would head an agency that is built on science is a frightening prospect.” And former acting CDC director, Dr. Richard Besser saying, point-blank, that, “I think it would be extremely dangerous to have RFK Jr. as the secretary of Health and Human Services.”

And Dr. Besser joins me now. It's good to see you, Dr. Besser, this morning.

You have spent your career in medicine, in science, 30 years as a pediatrician, 13 years with the CDC. I have to say, I've never seen you so outraged. So, tell us what kind of power and influence you think RFK Jr. would have.

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER CDC ACTING DIRECTOR & ROBERT WOODS JOHNSON FOUNDATION PRESIDENT & CEO: You know, Martha, I am outraged because lives are at stake here. The head of Health and Human Services touches programs that affect every single life in our country. I have been focusing mainly on the public health impacts.

You know, as you know, I'm a pediatrician. I've practiced pediatrics for more than 30 years. And there's nothing that I've done for my patients that I know has more positive impact thangetting them vaccinated fully and on time. And to have someone leading HHS who is one of the biggest deniers of vaccines in our country would undermine the confidence in that program and likely would cost lives.

RADDATZ: You know, he said that he does not intend to get rid of all vaccines. Said he and his children had been vaccinated before the Covid vaccine, which they did not take.

BESSER: Right.

RADDATZ: So, would he get rid of them? Do you think – do you think he's lying about that?

BESSER: Well, it's not a matter of getting rid of them. No vaccine is 100 percent protective. When you send your kid to school fully vaccinated, you don't want to have to worry that the child sitting next to them, that their parents chose not to vaccinate their child, because once the level of vaccination in a classroom drops below something like 95 percent, it's a setup for diseases like measles or whooping cough to spread. If there's a child in the classroom who has an immune problem, that child is at risk.

So, it's not a matter of saying, oh, yes, you have access to your vaccines, it's pushing the idea that vaccines should be something that is totally up to the individual. We have a social contract in our country. There are things we do for our own health. But there are things we do that are good for ourselves, our families, and our communities, and vaccination falls into that category. And having somebody who denies that in that role is extremely dangerous.

RADDATZ: He has not only denied some things in that role, or potentially in that role, but he has said there is some sort of autism that is a result of these vaccines. Totally not true then.

BESSER: Yes, you know, this was a question that was asked and addressed decades ago. And to continue to lift that up is a cruel thing to do.

We need to, as a nation, address chronic diseases in children. And one of the dangerous things about RFK Jr. is that there are bits of things he says that are true, and they're mixed in. And it makes it really hard to sort out what things you should – you should follow because they're based on fact, and which things are not. We should address chronic diseases, autism is one of those, and spending money trying to understand, what are the causes of autism and how can you address that. But keep lifting up the idea that it has something to do with vaccination is really a cruel thing to do.

RADDATZ: And he does push back on pharmaceuticals. And he's gotten praise for that. He does have interest in battling chronic childhood diseases, improving childhood nutrition. So, do you believe something good could come out of it?

BESSER: Well, you know, this is – this is my point. There are some things here that are worth working on. You know, if we're – if we’re looking at the school lunch program in America, 30 million children get more than half of their – their calories from that program. It would be a wonderful thing to make that the best school lunch program possible. Give money to schools so that they have kitchens and can make fresh food. Get the corporations out of the discussion so they're not pushing processed food. That would be a terrific thing. Getting big business out of the decisions of government health making, that would be a – that would be a great thing. But when you mix it in with solutions that are based on falsehoods or some are and some aren't, it's very confusing and could have dire consequences.

RADDATZ: OK, thanks for joining us this morning, Dr. Besser.

Trump's pick of Matt Gaetz may face the biggest uphill battle for confirmation. So, let's bring in former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara on that.

Good morning to you, Preet.

PREET BHARARA, FMR. U.S. ATTY. FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Good morning.

RADDATZ: I just, first of all, want your reaction to the nomination.

BHARARA: Look, you begin with the premise that every president, within reason, is entitled to the nominees of his choice, the team of his choice, the cabinet of his choice. But there are limits, particularly with the Justice Department, which is such an important role. The American public is also entitled to someone who has the proper experience, background, seasoning, judgment, et cetera. And, ideally, you would want someone at the AG level whose experience with the Justice Department goes beyond being investigated by the Justice Department.

Ideally, you’d want somebody who has criminal law experience, who has litigation experience, who has an extensive amount of legal experience. And most importantly, you want to have somebody who can pass a basic background check.

You know, Matt Gaetz has had a bipartisan investigation of him with respect to sex trafficking and other sexual misconduct going on in the House. That was his employer essentially. And if you resign two days before the report comes out, as we lawyers like to say, you can draw an adverse inference that the result of that investigation is not good.

So, I think it's a problematic nomination for a variety of reasons, and that's why you're hearing reports of such a bipartisan opposition.

RADDATZ: And you heard House Speaker Mike Johnson, though, praise the choice in sayingthis ethics report should not be released. Obviously, there are things leaking out about that report already that you mentioned.

BHARARA: Look, the proof is in the fact that somebody who has a job, an important job as a member of the House of Representatives is leaving that job ostensibly for the purpose of preventing that report from coming out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the results are probably very bad.

Now, whether or not the report becomes fully public to everyone, that's up to the House. But at a minimum -- at a minimum I think, the American people would want the senators who are in a position to advise and consent and determine the outcome of the nomination to have the benefit of that report in deciding whether or not this person gets this incredibly important job.

In no other context, whether it's a TV station or a law firm or a university with somebody who has been investigated for something in the prior job and quits that job to prevent the release of damaging information get the next job. You would never hear of it in any context ever, and it probably shouldn't happen here.

RADDATZ: And, Preet, J.D. Vance has said this is the most important job after the president and vice president.

Let's listen to Gaetz in his own words how he would approach the job.

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MATT GAETZ, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: I don't care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy, we either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heal.

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RADDATZ: Again, you talk about a president being able to choose whomever he wants. The voters chose Donald Trump. They know this is what he wants.

So if he is confirmed, how much power would he have to do what he says?

BHARARA: He would have -- he would have a tremendous amount of power and he has the backing of a president who is a flamethrower himself, a bomb thrower himself, who's choosing a bomb thrower for that job.

And again, president has a right to substantial difference but not complete and total difference. There's the United States Senate. They're accountable to the public as well and they have a role to advise and consent. And again, not ideal to have someone in that top job who has spoken in that bomb-throwing kind of way about the dismantlement of the central law enforcement agencies that are within the control of the Justice Department, including the FBI.

RADDATZ: And just, finally, and quickly if you can, what are you hearing from career folks in the Justice Department? One Justice Department official told ABC News there would be -- mass resignations if he gets sworn in. Could that actually be the goal to clean house?

BHARARA: You know, they've talked about cleaning house, in some ways, it's ironic that Donald Trump and his allies have talked about the deep state and want to get rid of the deep state. It sounds like they want to get rid of one deep state and implement another, people who are aligned with them.

I think it would be unfortunate if lots of people left the Justice Department and left it to political folks to fill the ranks with people who were aligned politically with them when most of the -- of the work of the Justice Department is not political, is not ideological, staffing decisions are not made on a political basis. The American people deserve fair and impartial justice, and it's a vanishingly small number of cases at the Justice Department that we talk about on television that involve political figures.

And you want that work to be done in a fair and neutral way.

RADDATZ: Okay. I thank you for your time this morning, Preet.

BHARARA: Thanks, Martha.

RADDATZ: And for the bigger picture on Trump's national security picks, I’m joined now in studio by Democratic Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin, who pulled off a narrow win in Michigan, a battleground state that helped elect Donald Trump.

Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

You have experience across the national security space, including defense and the CIA. So -- so let's start with the nomination of Pete Hegseth for the head of Department of Defense. This morning, his lawyer acknowledging he paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017, but he says he is an innocent victim, although his lawyers say witnesses saw him visibly intoxicated at the time of this incident.

What's your reaction to that and to his nomination?

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN, (D) MICHIGAN SENATOR-ELECT & (D) MICHIGAN: I mean, I think in general, I’m -- I’m a senator-elect and Advice and Consent from the Senate is part of our constitutional process. So I’m going to try and meet with everybody, hear them out.

But I also am a former CIA officer and Defense Department official. I know just how important these jobs are, not just for who gets what in Washington, but for the actual security of people in the United States.

And you know, I was one of the first employees of the DNI's office. I worked at the Pentagon.

And so to me, you have to have the right character, you have to right -- have the right qualifications, you have to go through an actual vetting process. And to me -- that to me is the thing that is going to be critical in deciding who should be supported as these big, big cabinet level officials.

RADDATZ: He has also said, Hegseth, in his book and in public appearances that he does not think women should be in combat roles. They are currently in combat roles.

How much power if he is confirmed would he have to change that? And what do you think those statements right now do to the morale of women in the Pentagon?

SLOTKIN: Well, I can tell you because I was at the Pentagon on Thursday and there is absolute, like hallway constant chatter and conversation and concern from senior women officers, but also I’ve heard from folks who I’ve recommended to service academies, young women who are just starting out their career saying am I going to actually be able to – to accomplish what I want to accomplish here.

So I don't think it's an understatement to say that there’s real stress in the force right now, and – but there is a lot of power. The secretary of defense it’s designed to be a very important job. So, who we put in there is extremely, extremely critical again to our security and to who we are as a nation.

So, I – there is – there's deep concern but also a deep opportunity to sort of make sure we are putting only qualified people in these jobs.

RADDATZ: Hegseth has also said that any general that was involved in any of the DEI woke crap has got to go. Do you expect Donald Trump to fire top generals who he considers woke or those close to former Chairman Mark Milley?

SLOTKIN: I mean, I don't think you have to interpret –

RADDATZ: Fire –

(CROSSTALK)

SLOTKIN: Yeah, I don't think you have to interpret anything. I think they've been very clear that they're putting together some sort of panel that's going to look at generals, people who have served their nation the -- their entire lives over multiple administrations Democrat and Republican in combat, they are now openly talking about dismissing them like some sort of kangaroo court.

You can imagine the stress in the Pentagon about that, but also on the future of who we are as a military, right? Our military and the role of the military is in the Constitution for a reason and I think we're really at risk of politicizing the military in a way that we can't put the genie back in the bottle.

RADDATZ: But there have been issues with recruiting of late and Hegseth talks about that.

SLOTKIN: Sure, I mean, there -- there's issues with recruiting. I think you talk to any business leader, there's issues with recruiting as well. There's just a high demand signal but I don't think that showing that you can be summarily fired in this system is a way to increase recruiting, and you know, I will just take note that –

RADDATZ: He said it would attract normal males if we –

SLOTKIN: Well, his idea of normal may be different. I just – we want a diverse force. Right now, the military is one of the most diverse institutions in the world. So, the officer corps should reflect that diversity.

And that's just not me saying it. That's the Supreme Court of the United States. When they went after diversity issues at our campuses, they excluded our service academies, West Point, the Naval Academy, so that -- because they understood that a diverse workforce, a diverse officer corps is a national security issue in the United States.

RADDATZ: Let me ask you this, Senator, and I know what you said at the top, but from what you already know, would you vote against his nomination?

SLOTKIN: I just don't -- I’m not going to do that. I’m a new senator-elect. I’m not going to set a standard where -- I want to meet with people. I want to talk with people. Some of these people I already served with in Congress, I still want the opportunity to have that conversation because it's written in the Constitution. That's what we should be doing.

RADDATZ: Okay, let's talk about what we already know about Tulsi Gabbard. You served with her as well. Is she qualified for that job from what you know right now?

SLOTKIN: Again, I --

RADDATZ: Your own experience at the CIA, she's going to be director of DNI.

SLOTKIN: Yeah. I mean, I think that I was literally one of the first employees when we stood up the director of national -- director of national intelligence office, and I have real concerns. Again, people have to be of a certain character and certain qualification because if you have the wrong people in these jobs, it's again, it's not just a parlor game.

RADDATZ: What concerns you about her? And certainly, there's been reporting about her past statements about Russia, about Ukraine?

SLOTKIN: I just need to know that the people who are in these jobs are not going to be guided by politics and what someone tells them they think they should be seeing in the intelligence or in the defense picture, but what is actually the truth on the ground. Speaking truth to power is one of the most important things the intelligence community does. And if you have someone in there who feels more beholden to telling the president what he wants to hear, I got a real problem with that.

RADDATZ: Marco Rubio, for secretary of state, that really seems like a very conventional pick. You know Marco Rubio. You've seen what he's done over the years on foreign affairs. What do you think a change might be there if he is confirmed?

SLOTKIN: I mean, I think, again, the -- I -- there is a -- he has been a very public person about his views on foreign affairs, and I think we heard from across the country that there's a lot of different views in this – in this country right now about America's role in the world. Do we think we should have that leadership role as we've had after World War II, and on, or do we want to isolate and say you know what? We're fine with someone else, you know, Russian leadership, Chinese leadership in the world.

I know where I stand on that, right? We're not perfect abroad. We're not perfect but, man, I'd rather have American leadership over Chinese or Russian leadership any day of the week. And so, I hope that despite the impulses maybe of President-elect Trump, that we have Marco Rubio as a more traditional pick who is going to understand that American role, that leadership role is important.

RADDATZ: OK. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate your time.

Coming up, what will happen to the nation's food supply with Trump's promise of a mass deportation? I traveled to California's farmland to find out. We're back in two minutes.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, FORMER ICE ACTING DIRECTOR: As a guy who spent 34 years deporting illegal aliens, I got a message to the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden has released in our country in violation of federal law. You better start packing now.

(CROWD CHEERING)

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RADDATZ: Former ICE Acting Director and President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Border Czar, Tom Homan speaking at the Republican Convention this summer. After record border crossings in the first three years of the Biden Administration, Trump has promised mass deportations on day one, starting with those with criminal records, a process that could be long and costly.

But fears of deportation have worried migrant workers across America as well as farmers who rely on their labor. And we saw that up close this week in the Central Valley of California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ (voice-over): California's Central Valley is without question, one of the most vital agricultural regions in America. 400 miles of rich farmland from Redding to Bakersfield, producing $17 billion worth of crops, 25 percent of the nation's food supply.

JOE DEL BOSQUE, FARM OWNER: My farm here in Central California grows melons like cantaloupes and watermelons. We also grow almonds. We grow tomatoes and cherries.

RADDATZ (voice-over): And to help grow and harvest those crops, many farmers here rely on undocumented workers.

RADDATZ: The Department of Agriculture estimates that about half of the hired crop workers do not have legal status.

RADDATZ (voice-over): That is estimated to be more than 330,000 workers in the Central Valley alone. Joe Del Bosque started his farm here in 1985.

BOSQUE: We do have concerns because our labor is barely where we need to do. We can't afford a labor shortage. Back during Obama, we had a labor shortage and there were, at times, where we actually lost some crop. We left the melons in the field unharvested, and we lost them.

RADDATZ: I think people will look and say, but wait a minute, they're Americans who are unemployed. Why can't you just hire them?

BOSQUE: They don't want to come out here and work in this extreme conditions, 100-plus-degree temperatures, dust, hard work.

RADDATZ: What if you paid them more?

BOSQUE: It doesn't matter. You know, we -- we pay some of the highest wages for farm workers in the nation right here in California and they won't come out. In California, we grow about 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables and nuts for the country, and any -- any shortage of food like that is going to impact everybody in the nation because not only will food be less available it'll be more expensive.

RADDATZ: Manuel Cunha Jr. runs the Nisei Farmers League, a trade organization representing farmers and farm workers in the Fresno area. He says Trump's promise to deport all undocumented migrants would disrupt the entire country.

MANUEL CUNHA JR., NISEI FARMERS LEAGUE PRESIDENT: If you took away my workforce, you wouldn't eat. If you go into the San Joaquin Valley and you start doing what you're saying, it's over. The country will stop, literally stop because the food system won't move.

RADDATZ: And like Joe Del Bosque, he insists these undocumented farm workers are not taking jobs that would otherwise go to American citizens.

CUNHA: I don't care what you pay ‘em. I don't care if you pay him $26 an hour, and it ain't going to happen. They're not going to get up at 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, drive to the field and pick fruit.

RADDATZ: Cunha wants the Trump administration to give those who have been in the country hard at work a break.

CUNHA: We need to figure out how we handle those folks, versus the ones that are criminals, child molesters, whatever you may want to call this have been coming across the border, they've worked here for 30 years. Now, you're going to throw them out of the country.

RADDATZ: Xochitl Nunez came to the U.S. 26 years ago to escape domestic abuse in Mexico. An activist for immigration reform, Xochitl provides for her family pruning crops, landscaping, and harvesting, thanks to a work permit. But she's trying to obtain legal permanent status.

She worries now not just about herself but those workers without any legal status. I’m scared, she says, but we have to keep going.

And yet deporting undocumented workers in California is complicated. The state enacted a measure in 2017 that prevents state resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement. And while that law varies by city and county, California is the sanctuary city capital of America, with dozens of cities and counties protecting undocumented residents from arrest based solely on their immigration status.

San Jose, California's third largest city, is one of them. Mayor Matt Mahan defends the protections despite Donald Trump's vow to get rid of them.

MAYOR MATT MAHAN (D), SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: We have the vast majority of our residents here, including our undocumented residents here, are law-abiding. In fact, the data shows that undocumented residents are less likely to commit crime. They're more likely to be working. They're paying taxes. They have a stake in our society.

RADDATZ: But the mayor fully realizes that because of the Biden administration's record-breaking border crossings, the majority of Americans now support mass deportation, 56 percent in an October ABC/Ipsos poll.

MAHAN: I think it's hard to get people to support the notion of a pathway to citizenship when you haven't committed to securing the border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RADDATZ: Our thanks to the mayor.

And Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales represents a district with the longest stretch of border in Texas. And he joins me now.

And you’ve got a lot of farmland out there as well. It looks very much like the Central Valley.

So, let’s start with what we just heard, farmers worried that they can’t have their crops picked if all of these undocumented workers are kicked out of the country.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s pick for border czar, Tom Homan, is telling them to start packing their bags.

REP. TONY GONZALES, (R) HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE & (R) TEXAS: Yes, good morning, Martha, and thank you for having me.

You know, if we’re going after the guy that’s picking tomatoes or the nurse at the local hospital and we’re not going after the convicted criminal, then our government has failed us. You know, our country was built on those fleeing persecution. And it would be -- it would be just absolutely terrible if we don’t protect those that are doing it the right way. Legal immigration should never be mixed with these hardened criminals.

I did a lot of campaigning this season, went all over the country, and there’s no doubt that Hispanic Americans overwhelmingly chose Republicans to govern. In the House, the -- we have the majority in the House because we won seats like Juan Ciscomani in Arizona, David Valadao in California, Gabe Evans in Colorado.

And so, you know, our message has to be one of positive, we want to hold onto these gains. If the message is, we’re here to deport your abuelita, that's not going to work well. It has to be one of holding these hardened criminals accountable.

RADDATZ: But that is -- but that is the message from the Trump Administration. They are doing mass deportation. Pack your bags, you heard Tom Homan say that.

Now, they have said they will deport criminals first, but they've also said, everyone else. There are 11 million to 13 million undocumented workers in this country. So, how does this work? How do you convince them to let people who are picking fruit stay?

GONZALEZ: Now, I don't exactly see it the exact same way. You know, months ago I reached out to ICE and I asked for empirical data on how many convicted criminals are in our country. The number is hundreds of thousands.

RADDATZ: Six -- more than 600,000?

GONZALES: It's absolutely mindboggling.

RADDATZ: So, how do you even round them up? How do you have the manpower to even do that?

GONZALES: That's where we need to focus. We need to focus -- I'm talking about the convicted criminal aliens that keeps all Americans safe. We need to put all our time, all our energy into that. And you do that by making sure that these taskforces have the resources they need. You pull local, state and federal resources to go after these criminals. You find them. You deport them. And you also have to do some other things too.

You know, yesterday there were 1,600 people that entered our country illegally. We're on pace for over half a million people. Something has to change.

In San Antonio, there was a police officer I met with, Vivian Rodriguez, that was shot in the line of duty because a Venezuelan immigrant fired upon her. I mean the madness, it has to stop. So, I think we start -- all our energy has to be towards these convicted criminal aliens and go from there.

RADDATZ: Let's go back to what the Trump Administration, or the future Trump Administration has been saying. Tom Homan has said that he would deport entire families together, even if there is a child that is a U.S. citizen. He played a key role in the first Trump Administration's family separation party -- policy. Let's listen to what he said at CPAC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN: I wake up every day pissed off because this administration destroyed the most secure border of our lifetime. And I'm sick and tired of hearing about the family separation. You know, I'm still being sued over that. So, come get me. I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED), right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: Your reaction to that?

GONZALES: Tom's a big boy and he doesn't need me defending him. But the way I view it, is what he -- at the heart of what his conversation is saying is there have -- we have to end the lawlessness. And if you go out and show your hand and say, we're going to enforce these laws --

RADDATZ: No, he's -- he's much more specific in that. He's talking about family separation.

GONZALES: Well, I think if you --

RADDATZ: Yes, they've said lawlessness, they've said criminals. They're talking about deporting everyone.

GONZALES: I think in his experience, and in mine, what has happened is, if you say I'm only going to enforce these laws and not the others, what's going to happen is these criminal elements are going to exploit that. Whether it's single adult males, whether it's children, whether it's families, they will exploit our policies.

So, I think what they're trying to do is they're trying to say, we're going to treat everyone the same and we're going to start enforcing laws. I think that's a good start.

We've got to surge immigration judges to the border, get cases heard in days, not years.

RADDATZ: You've said that for a long time. That hasn't happened.

GONZALES: That works. I think that works under every administration. I hope this -- I hope the incoming administration uses that advice and surges immigration judges, so people get their day in court.

RADDATZ: I want your reaction to one more thing on this issue.

GONZALES: Sure.

RADDATZ: And that is Stephen Miller, who is Trump's pick to be Deputy National Security Adviser, said at a Trump rally last month, "America is for Americans and Americans only."

Your reaction?

GONZALES: I mean, my reaction is, there is a lot of people that are upset. And this American first movement is very real because they feel as if they're -- lots of Americans are doing all the things they're supposed to do and somehow they're in the back of the line. Things are turned upside down. This is where we have to get to keeping all Americans safe. Make it a country that all Americans are prosperous.

This division -- I don't like the division. I don't like us saying, you -- we're picking the winners and losers. We've got to get back to everybody rowing in the same direction.

RADDATZ: And I should just correct myself, Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff he's up for not National Security Adviser.

As you know, President Trump announced he was nominating now former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General. I want to play you what you had to say about him back in April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: I served 20 years in the military. It's my absolute honor to be in Congress. But I served with some real scumbags like, Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties.

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RADDATZ: Matt Gaetz has denied those charges. But your reaction to his nomination?

GONZALES: There -- there -- there is not one person that I know of that hasn't met Matt Gaetz and has an opinion. So, I -- I -- I wish him well. I hope he goes on and does good things for our country. His --

RADDATZ: You would like to see him get that nomination and serve?

GONZALES: I would like to see him good -- do -- go do good things for our country.

RADDATZ: But -- but wait a minute, what you just said is he's a scumbag. You want him to be confirmed?

GONZALES: I want him to do good things for our country. I want everyone to do good things for our country. And the division -- the more we can be united under this unified government, I think the better -- better off. His vote in Congress is certainly going to be missed.

We have a razor-thin margin in the House. We have some real things to get done, like the -- like the spending package, the farm bill is very important, the National Defense Authorization Act. All those things need to happen.

RADDATZ: And -- and just quickly on Pete Hegseth. He, also, nominated to be Head of the Pentagon. You are a veteran. He doesn't think women should be on combat.

GONZALES: Martha, I believe women – I've – I've served with women in combat. They’re some of the toughest warriors around. As you know, I'm the – I'm the most senior enlisted service member to ever serve in Congress. I take, you know, that very serious. I've served five years in Iraq and Afghanistan. And so, I remember walking around with the 25 cent (ph) Athese (ph) Pogs (ph) and I think many of us have lost faith in this administration, especially after the 13 Americans in Afghanistan got killed and the Afghan women got sent back into the stone age. So nearly anyone will be in a better spot than what we currently have at Department of Defense.

RADDATZ: OK, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

GONZALES: Thank you, Martha.

RADDATZ: Up next, could Russia’s war on Ukraine end sooner because Donald Trump is heading back to the White House. Ukraine's own president thinks so. The latest from ABC's Ian Pannell in Kharkiv after this break.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: And I'll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I'm president-elect, I'll get it done before even becoming president.

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RADDATZ: Donald Trump during his debate with Kamala Harris, promising a quick end to the war. The battle continues to rage between Russia and Ukraine. But could Trump’s return to the White House help move both sides to a settlement?

Our chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell is on the ground in Kharkiv with the latest.

Good morning, Ian.

IAN PANNELL, ABC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Martha.

Russia launching one of its largest attacks against Ukraine this morning. Missiles targeting power plants and energy infrastructure across the country. In other words, it was an attack not on military sites but an attack on civilians who are already racing a bleak winter of shortages.

In two days’ time, Ukraine is going to mark a grim milestone, 1,000 days of war since Putin's large scale invasion in February 22, and the cost has been horrendous. Hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced from their homes, and although we may not hear about Ukraine as often these days the war is as violent and deadly as ever.

Ukraine is going to be one of the most immediate foreign policy challenges, of course, for the next Trump administration. And although the president-elect has already spoken to President Zelenskyy, he's yet to talk to Putin, according to the Kremlin. But Moscow is making positive noises, saying it regards Trump more favorably than Biden, and there are now growing voices who believe a peace deal may be possible.

Trump has promised to end the conflict quickly and many of his voters and backers want an end to U.S. funding of Ukraine's war efforts. Even Zelenskyy believes that ending the war faster is possible under Trump, but on what terms? The fighting's raging in many areas, Putin's men with the aid of North Korean soldiers, ammunition and now artillery are pushing hard in Kursk. Remember, that's the region of Russia partly occupied by Ukrainian forces.

And Moscow's men also making warring gains in the eastern Donbas and here in Kharkiv region, and the bombing of the country increasingly civilian areas like this is incessant. Many war-weary Ukrainians now accept they're unlikely to retake some of the land that Russia's annex like Crimea and Putin's unlikely to settle without it. But Ukraine is going to need meaningful security guarantees that Putin won't break agreements and attack again as he has done before.

And if NATO membership is ruled out, then what does that look like? After so much blood and treasure has been spilled, Trump is likely to need a carrot as well as a stick to bring the two sides together. He's likely to find that ending the war as quickly as he wants and in a -- in a manner that's acceptable to all parties is going to be far harder than he thinks -- Martha.

RADDATZ: Ian Pannell in Kharkiv, thank you.

When we come back, the roundtable digs into all the nomination news and confirmation concerns for the second Trump term. Will any Republican senators tell Donald Trump “no”?

We'll be right back.

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RADDATZ: And we are back with the Roundtable. Alex Burns, Head Of News for Politico, Ted Herndon; Astead Herndon, National Political Reporter for the New York Times; Rachael Bade, Co-Author of Politico Playbook; and Reince Priebus, Former RNC Chair and Former Trump White House Chief of Staff, just back from Mar-a-Lago, and that's where I want to start.

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER RNC CHAIR & FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF & ABC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

RADDATZ: Lot of pushback on some of these nominees. How are they taking that and how is this working down there?

PRIEBUS: Well, I -- first of all, I was down there for a couple days. The transition office is West Palm Beach, but all the decision making is taking place in Mar-a-Lago. I mean, that is the center --

RADDATZ: No surprise there.

PRIEBUS: -- of the political universe. And I got -- it's extremely confident. The issues with the -- the nominees are not really penetrating. They're pushing forward. They feel like they've got a mandate. People are excited. There are also, I would say, a gathering of the most loyal people to President Trump.

And so, we can get into this later, but the nominees are the people who you saw a lot of times at the rallies. I mean, they were at every rally. It should be no surprise to anybody --

RADDATZ: And at Madison Square Garden last night.

PRIEBUS: -- at all. They were all there and, yep, at Madison Square Garden. These are his people. And so, there's a lot going on and the Chief of Staff is managing it all. And it was, obviously, very reminiscent for me of 2016.

RADDATZ: And to that point, Astead, these are the people who will uphold, one would assume, Donald Trump's campaign promises?

ASTEAD HERNDON, NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely. I mean, I think the controversy of the selections can kind of complicate some of this, but I think we should see it as a candidate following through on the campaign promise. He promised a DOJ that was focused on retribution. That's how you get a Matt Gaetz pick.

He promised -- he made Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stars on the campaign trail. And that's who the -- there's a lot of folks who voted for him for the purposes of having an RFK Jr. disrupt big pharma at HHS. And so, I don't think that was the fullness of the result that we saw on Tuesday.

But they are taking a mandate and they have campaigned over the last year and a half from the premise of their base and kind of asking others to come along with them. I think that signals a difference in governing from 2017 until now. He's not focused on the guardrails or appeasing establishment or things like that. He feels like he's run a campaign to kind of govern in his most purest form, and that the electoral expects that.

RACHAEL BADE, POLITICO PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTING POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Donald Trump –

RADDATZ: so, Rachael, exactly. But now the pressure is on the Republicans in the Senate. We've got John Thune. How will this all work? Will he get those nominations through?

BADE: Yes, it’s a good question, and one everybody is asking, Martha.

Look, I mean the Senate Republican Conference is one of the most elite sort of, you know, high-level and exclusive clubs here in the United States. And, look, they really relish their independence. But this is Donald Trump's Washington right now. I mean he had a decisive victory on election night, and he is the reason that Senate Republicans have the majority in the first place because they rode, you know, his coattails to this, you know, 53-seat majority that they now have.

So, they might not like these – these nominees. And let's be clear, they do not. A lot of them may not say it on the record but they do not. But they're expected to really fall in line.

And, you know, I think some people who are sort of critical of these nominees, they've taken heart that Republicans have chosen John Thune, as you just mentioned, to lead the Senate. He's more of a McConnell, you know, acolyte. He’s more of an institutionalist, not like Rick Scott.

RADDATZ: But some have taken heart from that.

BADE: Yes.

RADDATZ: And John Thune’s on board with everything Donald Trump has thrown at him?

BADE: Yes. And, I mean, but the other thing is, you know, these senators, when they voted for Thune over Rick Scott, who was very much the MAGA candidate, who wanted to totally upend the chamber, they did it on secret ballot. I mean this is not a vote that they are going to be accountable for. It's going to be very different when they go on the Senate floor, with the lights on them, and actually vote against, you know, their party, and their – the party leader, who wants these people in the cabinet.

RADDATZ: And, Alex, do you see any overreach here on Donald Trump's part, especially some of those nominees of Matt Gaetz for instance?

ALEX BURNS, POLITICO HEAD OF NEWS: Well, we're going to find out. And to Reince's point about the feeling in Florida that they have a mandate, every president who comes in with united control of Congress, which has been every president in my lifetime except for one, feels that they have a mandate. And then we see what happens when you actually try to put your people and your policies up for a vote, right? Joe Biden felt he had a mandate to be the new FDR. We all know how that ended, right? George W. Bush, when he was re-elected, felt he had a mandate to reshape Social Security. We all know how that ended.

I'm not making any predictions here about how this one is going to end, but I do think we should see this selection of nominees as a decision to put that mandate to the test and to spend capital upfront on personnel. And it is worth, I think, just stepping back and taking stock. A president can only spend so much capital, can only have so many fights at one time.

BADE: And we're going to see extremely explosive hearings at a time when Donald Trump is going to be wanting to advance, you know, tax cuts, put, you know, up new legislation potentially on the border in Congress. He's going to be putting a lot of energy toward getting these people over the finish line. I mean you can imagine a situation where a lot of these women who have made these allegations against these candidates, you know, this woman who went to the House Ethics Committee and said that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor, this conservative woman who said that Pete Hegseth assaulted her at a conference. You can imagine a scenario where Democrats are pushing for them and wanting them to come to The Hill. And this is going to make the Brett Kavanaugh hearings sort of look like child's play compared to what we're going to see.

RADDATZ: And, Reince, you told me you talked to Donald Trump just yesterday about some of these more controversial nominees. Is he going to double down? Is he backing off at all?

PRIEBUS: No. I mean, I – he made it very clear to me that the Matt Gaetz pick is not three-dimensional chess to help another nominee get through. That this was what he wanted to have happen. And when Republicans voted an impeachment against Donald Trump, he had a list of who those people were. And almost all of them in the House are gone.

One – a couple quick things though. Number one, you have to remember, Donald Trump spent the last couple years going in and out of courtrooms, getting Mar-a-Lago raided. I mean part of the reason why the first lady, Melania Trump, didn't go meet with Jill Biden was, hey, you raided, you know, my bedroom. I mean, you came – you want me to have tea with you? So, he spent that he feels like he has gone to hell and back ten times. So, this is also a big middle finger to the DOJ and the FBI.

And the last thing, again, that – the Gaetz play and all these other nominees come after four years of being through the gauntlet. In 2016, that cabinet was universally praised when we walked in the door, but over time Donald Trump learned and now he's learned (ph) and now wants to change it.

RADDATZ: Right. And, Astead, I want to come to you on that. Yes, it's very different from then. He lost a lot of generals. He lost a lot of secretaries of defense because theythey disagreed with him or because they were not loyal. These are loyalists.

HERNDON: These are loyal and just from the voter perspective, which I spend a lot of my time. At his rallies, Trump supporters talk about how they feel his last agenda was blocked by a group of Washington insiders who are not as supportive, whether it be cabinet or Congressional Republicans. It's been their mantra over the last year and a half that if they were to come back, they're looking for a Donald Trump who kind of blocks out some of those guardrails. So I think we should see those picks as reflective of that.

Also, Gabbard, RFK Jr., Matt Gaetz, him bringing them to Madison Square Garden last night for UFC events is no accident. He is trying to make these people kind of folksy heroes in that same image and so that even if they are rejected, it comes at a -- it then plays into that narrative of Washington again thumbing their nose at the duly-elected president.

And so, whether or not -- the mandate question is an interesting one to me, because I can totally see a universe where they're over-reading kind of what the electorate says of them. But to Reince's point, I don't know if Donald Trump cares about that, to be honest. It feels as if the more important thing he has learned from last administration to this one is to prioritize power, to prioritize reshaping government in the way that he most wants, and whether that has a political blowback or not in two years --

RADDATZ: And it's almost like --

HERNDON: I think he will deal with that next (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

RADDATZ: -- the more criticism, the more he pushes forward?

BURNS: It is. I do think Matt Gaetz is clearly in a different category than the rest of the nominees in terms of the political resonance and the political standing he has in Washington. I totally agree with what you just said about the sort of different set of priorities than 2016.

I don't think there's going to be a sort of, Rex Tillerson, he's central casting, and actually after 45 minutes, it turns out I hate him and distrust him. Right? That's not the lineup you have right now.

The criticism of Gaetz is not coming just from Democrats, or just from the establishment. You have had vocal MAGA-aligned House Republicans saying this guy is beyond the pale. So I think it's very notable and very interesting that Donald Trump is saying, this is not 3D chess. This is the real thing.

I think it's a heck of a test for him to put his own standing with the Party to -- we're in this moment where Washington does assume that what Donald Trump's word is, is law. And we're going to see if that's really the case with Gaetz.

RADDATZ: And Rachael, we literally have 10 seconds. So wrap this up. Do they make it through? Does Gaetz make it through?

BADE: I think the big question is going to be, does Donald Trump try to force Congress out to get some of these people in place? If the Senate Republicans won't vote for him, including Gaetz. I mean, that is going to be a huge test. It's going to go to the Supreme Court. Can he do that? I don't know. We'll see.

RADDATZ: Well, we'll see. And thank you all. We'll be right back.

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RADDATZ: That's all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "World News Tonight" and have a great day.