Ryan Zinke Out as U.S. Interior Secretary; ObamaCare Struck Down but Still in Effect; Mick Mulvaney New Acting White House Chief of Staff
HOWELL: Another day, another high-level resignation at the Trump White House. This time the U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke set to step down at the end of the year. Zinke's faced multiple ethics investigations and was reportedly under pressure to resign. In fact, "The Washington Post" reports Zinke was given an ultimatum: leave by the end of the year or be fired. CNN's Boris Sanchez picks up the story from Washington.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We can tell you the White House was closely watching Ryan Zinke's legal situation amid his departure as the Secretary of the Interior. Zinke's been accused of misusing agency resources to advance his own personal finances. There are more than 15 different inquiries that were opened by the inspector general of that agency into Zinke's behavior, questions about his lavish spending on travel, whether his wife was using government vehicles, his involvement in a casino deal in Connecticut and one that's now being investigated by the Department of Justice, this land deal that he struck in his home state of Montana with the head of Halliburton. Zinke has denied all allegations against him. In a tweet, he justifies his departure by saying he didn't want to spend thousands of dollars to try to clear his name. He is a favorite target of Democrats, who are relishing his departure, including the minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer. He wrote on Twitter, quote, "Ryan Zinke was one of the most toxic members of the cabinet in the way he treated our environment, our precious public lands and the way he treated the government, like it was his personal honey pot. The swamp cabinet will be a little less foul without him." We should note Saturday night was the congressional ball here at the White House, with President Trump greeting several members of his cabinet as well as members of Congress. Zinke was here on hand. The reports out there that the White House forced him out, CNN still trying to confirm that. We can tell you that the administration certainly wanted to put some distance between yet another member of the president's cabinet with questionable ethical behavior and the White House -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.</s>HOWELL: Boris, thank you. And Zinke is not the only one leaving the White House. He joins a big group of people who have either left or are in the process of leaving. You see all the faces and names there from the Trump administration and more could be coming. Here is what President Trump told "60 Minutes" on CBS about this situation two months ago.</s>TRUMP: I think I have a great cabinet. There's some people I'm not happy with.</s>LESLEY STAHL, CBS NEWS HOST: Who are you not happy with?</s>TRUMP: I don't want to say that. I have people I'm not --</s>TRUMP: -- thrilled with. I have other people that I'm beyond thrilled with.</s>HOWELL: Now to the issue of health care in the United States. The Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare, is still the law of the land, despite being struck down by a federal judge on Friday as unconstitutional. The deadline to sign up for the ACA has now expired except for a handful of states where the deadline is January 31st. President Trump welcomed the judge's controversial decision, as you'll hear here.</s>TRUMP: I believe we're going to get really good health care. Exciting things happened over the last 24 hours. If everybody is smart, because we have a lot of Democrats here tonight and I'm very happy about that. People don't realize that I have a lot of friends who are Democrats. We have Democrats here. If the Republicans and Democrats get together, we are going to end up with incredible health care which is the way it should have been from day one. It's going to happen.</s>HOWELL: The current president there. And we also heard from the former U.S. President Barack Obama, who is quick to reassure Americans that their health care was not going away because of this ruling. Mr. Obama posted a lengthy response on social media, that you see here, telling those who depend upon ObamaCare that the judge's decision, quote, "changes nothing for now at least." Let's bring in Steven Erlanger to talk more about this, the chief diplomatic editor in Europe for "The New York Times." Always a pleasure, Steven, to have you on the show. Let's start with ObamaCare. The law was struck down by this federal judge and certainly has been hit in the kneecaps plenty of times since the U.S. president took office. Politically, the question, where does this put Democrats as far as campaigning toward 2020? And what does it mean for Republicans, who are surely satisfied, optimistic about seeing this law struck down?</s>STEVEN ERLANGER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think everyone should take a breath which is pretty much what Obama said. It's a very sweeping ruling, it's probably too sweeping to hold up under appeal. And nothing will change in the meantime. It does give the Democrats an opportunity to work out a better deal, perhaps, with the Republicans in Congress. It's a way of showing a sort of bipartisanship. But I think the issue of pre-existing conditions, all that has been very popular for the Democrats in the midterms. And any attempt to really get rid of ObamaCare in all of its particularities would be very unpopular for the Republicans. So I think everybody has to be a bit careful. But the judge's ruling itself I think will be too sweeping to stand up.</s>HOWELL: It will be interesting, because Republicans may view health care differently than Democrats. The difference between, is it a right or is it a privilege? We'll have to see if the parties can come together on this. Let's talk about the changing of the guard. "The Washington Post" reporting that the U.S. Interior Secretary was given the ultimatum to leave by the end of the year or be fired. Here is the thing, Steven. He reportedly wanted to stay on at least through his Christmas party, Zinke did, where he invited lobbyists, conservative activists and even posed for a photo in front of a large polar bear wearing a Santa cap, despite being mired in investigations. What do you make of this situation where the White House is pushing him out?</s>ERLANGER: But everybody loves Christmas, everybody loves a good Christmas party. He's been a real embarrassment for the Trump administration. He's done environmentally some of what Trump really wants. My guess is he'll be replaced by someone who is also very, very tough on all these efforts at conservation. But in terms of his personal behavior and all the investigations he's involved with and the money he's spent on his office and everything else, I think really he looks so out of touch with the people who are supposed to be Trump's base. I think, whether the White House pushed him out or not, it's probably good for Trump that he's going because he's likely to be indicted down the road.</s>HOWELL: And continuing on the topic of the revolving door, the current chief of staff, General John Kelly, on his way out; the director of Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, is on his way in, at least on a temporary basis. There's an interview, though, from Mulvaney back from a debate he took part in, in 2016, that's catching some attention where he had a very specific description of his boss. Let's listen.</s>MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes, I'm supporting Donald Trump, doing so as enthusiastically as I can --</s>MULVANEY: -- given the fact that I think he's a terrible human being. but the choice on the other side is just as bad.</s>HOWELL: It's another case where words come back to haunt and a president who has thin skin for criticism. What do you make of that statement and how it plays into Mulvaney taking this new role?</s>ERLANGER: Well, Mulvaney was quite a conservative congressman from South Carolina. He was speaking after the tapes came out about Trump's famous expression about how to treat women by grabbing their genitals. So I think he was responding to his constituency and saying what a lot of people who ended up voting for Trump felt, which was that this was not a very nice thing to say. It will haunt him. It's very hard working for Donald Trump, that's for sure. He's flighty, he runs by instinct, he changes his mind. He falls in love and out of love with people very, very quickly. So my understanding is that Mulvaney actually asked for the title of acting chief of staff because, when Trump gets tired of him, it will be easier to go. Somebody has got to do the job. And he gets on with Trump. They play golf together. He's apparently well known for bringing lots of bright, sharp graphs into the White House with his, that Trump likes. So let's see. Somebody has to try to run the White House. So why not Mr. Mulvaney?</s>HOWELL: The old saying, it's a tough job but somebody has got to do it. We'll see how this plays out. Steven Erlanger, live for us in Brussels, Belgium, thank you for your time.</s>ERLANGER: Thanks, George.</s>HOWELL: Around the world and in the United States, you're watching NEWSROOM. Still ahead, Brexit is turning into a major headache for Theresa May, the British prime minister. We'll discuss what's next for Ms. May after her own party triggers a confidence vote over her handling of Brexit. Plus another country could soon follow Britain's lead, Italy. The budget battle with the E.U. is raising concerns it may also try to leave the E.U. We'll have details from Rome as CNN NEWSROOM continues.