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House Votes for Speaker Johnson on Surveillance Bill; Top U.S. General in Israel; Netanyahu Discuss Iranian Threat with War Cabinet; Uncertain Future to His Speakership, Johnson Traveling to Mar-a-Lago Today to Meet with Trump; Interview with Intelligence Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO); Joint "Election Integrity" Between Johnson and Trump; Proxy Troops Likely to Launch an Iranian Strike on Israel; According to U.S. Intelligence; Survey: April Consumer Sentiment Remained Stable; Despite Depressing Inflation Data, Americans' Perceptions of the Economy Remain Unchanged; Round Two of the Masters Underway. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired April 12, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
WILLIAM COHEN (R), FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON, FORMER MAINE SENATOR, AND CEO, THE COHEN GROUP: And once again, the Russians are here, and I think that anyone in the House that says we don't need this protection, they are aiding and abetting the Russians. They are what I would call the Putinistas. The Putinistas in the House of Representatives, something I never thought I would say about Republican members of Congress being the arm of the -- of Vladimir Putin and trying to undermine our democracy.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, President Reagan would not approve, no question about it. And Secretary Cohen, I do want to ask you, I do want to shift gears to the Middle East because sources tell CNN that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening his war cabinet right now to discuss readiness for a possible attack by Iran that potentially would be in retaliation for last week's strike on that Iranian consulate in Syria. What do you make of all of that? How destabilizing would that be if something like that were to come to pass?
COHEN: Well, it would be completely destabilizing. This is one of the issues we have to face. If you go back to the center of the web that has been woven, Iraq -- I'm sorry, Iran is in the very center. They are the spider. And you go out from that web, you see China, you see Russia, you see the Houthis, you see Syria, you see others in -- North Korea. They all focus on Iran.
So, if there were to be a war between Israel and Iran, all of those countries in the region may very well be involved, not to mention those highly sophisticated forward-looking countries in the Gulf. They have everything to lose in terms of their countries as well.
This is a big deal. This is very important that Bibi Netanyahu not do anything without consulting with the United States military, with our secretary of defense, with President Biden. Because we have a lot of skin in the game on this. It's not just Israel it's at stake. We have a lot of Americans in the region, thousands of them.
And so, we have a say in this and should have a say in it. And I would hope that Bibi would listen to President Biden. Take care to help people who are starving. Don't make the United States a party to imposing famine on 30,000 people or killing 30,000 people. Make sure they are fed. Make sure that they take extra care in going after those targets that they have to go after. Hamas must be defeated, unless you defeat it in a way that doesn't kill thousands of innocent people.
ACOSTA: All right. Former Secretary Bill Cohen, always appreciate your insights. Please come back as soon as you can. Thanks so much for your time this morning.
COHEN: Thank you, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, stoking unfounded election fears down in Florida. What Democrats in Congress are saying about this upcoming Mar-a-Lago meeting between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump. Congressman Jason Crow, there he is right there. He joins me next.
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[10:35:00]
ACOSTA: With his job on the line and battle, House Speaker Mike Johnson is heading to Mar-a-Lago today joining Former President Donald Trump for what's being described as a, "Election Integrity" event. Here with us now to discuss is Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado who serves on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees.
Congressman, I do want to get to that, but just very quickly, your reaction to how the FISA legislation is making its way through the House. Are you confident that -- we were just talking to Lauren Fox a short while ago, it sounds as though there might be some alterations to FISA that could run into trouble in the Senate. Are you confident that this thing can get to the finish line?
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well, I'm nervous, Jim. It's too close for comfort. I need to, you know, correct some misinformation here. This is a program that's fundamental to our national security. The bulk of our intelligence on foreign spies, on terrorist threats, on counternarcotics, on the fentanyl trade, most of this intelligence comes from FISA and from this program.
This program is a lawful program, it's reviewed consistently by courts that have said it's lawful, it's compliant with the Constitution. Not reauthorizing it with the reforms that have been made would be devastating to our national security and the impacts and the risk to Americans would be felt almost immediately. So, we're working very hard to make sure that that does not happen, that we preserve this very essential national security tool.
ACOSTA: And what's your reaction to this visit today between the House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump? I recall when Kevin McCarthy made that pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago right after January 6th, resuscitated Donald Trump as, sort of, a political figure in this country after the shameful way that he left office.
And here you have Mike Johnson going down there with Donald Trump very much almost in charge of the Republican House Conference. I guess arguably he is in charge of the Republican House Conference. What's your reaction to this visit today?
CROW: Well, first of all, our constitutional system requires a separation and a balance of powers. You know, Congress has an independent obligation to be an independent branch. I take that very seriously. I don't always agree with my own administration sometimes, because I have an independent obligation. It's very scary to see the extent to which the House Republican Conference has become captured by Donald Trump and just take their marching orders from him, almost in real time.
He'll tweet something out and tell them to vote for or against something. That's not how our constitutional system works and it's extremely scary. But with respect to this, you know, election integrity event that they are hosting, this is classic projection, right? This is Donald Trump. The same guy who ordered the secretary of State of Georgia to come up with 10,000 fake votes so he could win the presidential election. Drumming up some kind of election integrity event. It's crazy. It's absurd.
[10:40:00]
The 2020 election was the most secure election in our nation's history, according to all the data, all the experts. There was no widespread fraud, in fact, most of the fraud cases that came out of the election were people trying to support Donald Trump, as a matter of fact. So, this is crazy stuff and people should see it as such.
ACOSTA: Is the speaker trying to, I guess, make amends with the former president to some extent because he is trying to pursue this reauthorization of FISA with some tweaks to it and potentially put a bill on the House floor that would fund Ukraine, that would send aid to Ukraine. Does he have to, sort of, pay this visit, kiss the ring in order to make those things happen in the House? Do you understand the visit from a political standpoint? Does it make political sense from that standpoint?
CROW: I don't know. I don't spend a ton of my time inside the brain of Mike Johnson or other folks who go down there to kiss Donald Trump's ring. I just simply -- I cannot understand that. I mean, Donald Trump is an extreme danger to our democracy. He is, in my view, an unstable man that poses a variety of dangers.
So, I can't wrap my brain around having, you know, thinking like politically you have to go kiss someone's ring to get their support when Ukraine is starting to lose its war. When one of our largest intelligence tools is at great risk right now. When we're not able to govern on very simple things that the American people deserve us to govern on. I just can't wrap my brain around any of that. To be honest with you, we can and should do better.
ACOSTA: And I did want to ask you finally, CNN is reporting, I talked about this with Bill Cohen in the previous segment, this prospect that there might be a reprisal strike from Iran going after Israel. There's some reporting that Israel is bracing for that kind of attack. The White House says, it's watching it very closely. You're on the -- some very key committees up on Capitol Hill, Congressman. How worried are you about Iran striking at Israel in the coming days?
CROW: I'm worried. Obviously, the risk is very high. You know, it -- just from a common-sense perspective, it would make sense that Iran would retaliate in some way for the strike last week. So, we're just being very vigilant about it. The administration is being very vigilant about it. This is a perfect example of, you know, feeling better that there are very serious, smart people that take this stuff seriously in the Pentagon, in the National Security Council, and certainly in the White House. And why leadership matters and why having people that understand these issues matters.
But we're going to keep a close eye on it. And certainly, we'll defend Israel if there is a -- an attack. You know, and there's various ways of doing that. I'm not saying that we are going to get involved in the conflict. We have to prevent escalation, but certainly standing by Israel and providing the support that they would need to resist an attack, I think would be very important here.
ACOSTA: All right. Congressman Jason Crow. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.
CROW: Thank you.
ACOSTA: All right. We'll be right back.
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[10:45:00]
ACOSTA: New this morning, the preliminary consumer sentiment report for April was just released. And despite disappointing inflation reports, Americans attitudes toward the economy are largely holding steady.
CNN's Matt Egan joins us now. Matt, and it's an obscure sounding report, but any of these little tea leaves that come out about the economy these days, everybody's going and -- going through those numbers and pouring through them because folks want to know, is inflation coming down? How are people feeling about the economy because we're in this election year and it could really hinge on those issues?
MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMY REPORTER: Yes, absolutely, Jim. I mean, this is a measure of how Americans feel. So, we pay really close attention because there's big economic implications. Consumer spending is the biggest driver of growth. And obviously there are political implications as well. So, these new numbers show that consumer sentiment didn't move much, but it did dip slightly as April started off, going below 78 versus just over 79 in March. That was a little bit unexpected, and it does reflect lingering concerns with the cost of living, right? Housing, car insurance, energy is a big one. We know gas prices are starting to tick higher.
Now, let's look at where the trend is for this figure. And this chart shows that back in 2020, consumer sentiment tumbled during COVID, and then it really plunged two years ago when inflation was on fire. And I think the good news is clearly sentiment has bounced back from two years ago, but I think the bad news here is that it's still well below pre-COVID levels.
And so, if you're sitting in the White House, you really are hoping that those numbers improve more than they have, and it does seem as though sentiment, sort of like inflation, some of the progress there, has started to really stall out here. Jim.
ACOSTA: Yes, people are, are fairly happy with their 401(k)s. The stock market has been roaring, lately. I guess it's a little bit of a dip the last couple of weeks, but as long as inflation remains persistent, there are going to be those concerns and we're going to see it reflected in these numbers. Matt Egan, thanks as always. Really appreciate it.
EGAN: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: Coming up, getting back on schedule. Round two now underway at Augusta National. Watching the Master is always fun but also makes me worry about my golf game. It's just not that good. We'll do a contrast and comparison next.
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[10:50:00]
ACOSTA: Day one of the Masters is in the books after a delayed start due to some inclement weather this morning while some players finish their first round. The second round also got underway.
CNN Sports Anchor Andy Scholes joins me now live from Augusta National. Wow. Andy, it looks a lot better there where you are in Georgia than it does here in D.C. A long day ahead for Tiger though. How's he looking this morning?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, his day didn't get off, I guess, to the best of starts. He bogeyed two of the five holes that he had left to play in the first round, ended up one over par for that first round. He's got a long day. He's got to play 23 holes this afternoon. That is a lot of walking for Tiger Woods. But, you know, it -- he had about a 50-minute break after he finished round one before he started round two.
He's out there on the course right now. He par holed number one. And Tiger is trying to make some history today. If he makes the cut, that would be a 24th straight time for him. That would be a record here at the Masters. Still early on the cut line right now would be about three over. So, if Tiger plays well, he should be able to do that.
[10:55:00]
Now, the favorite this year, this year's tournament was Scottie Scheffler, and he certainly looked like the favorite in round one. He shot a six under 66. Scotty won this tournament two years ago. He's always played well here. He's finished in the top 20 and all four of his appearances.
So, I mean, he really looks like he's going to be unstoppable this year here at Augusta. What's one thing that maybe could stop him, though? His wife going into labor. The couple is expecting their first cup -- their first child at the end of the month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, 2022 MASTERS CHAMPION: As far as her going into labor, I wouldn't say I'm very concerned. We haven't seen any of the, you know, early signs. But pregnancy is weird. It can happen at any time. But, yes, open lines of communication and she can get a hold of me if she needs to. And, yes, I'm ready to go in moment's notice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And boy, Jim, that would be a tough call. You're leading at the Masters on a Sunday, per se, and your wife goes into labor. What do you do?
ACOSTA: Yes, you don't get a mulligan if you miss that moment. All right. Andy Scholes, thank you very much.
SCHOLES: That's true. Yes. All right.
ACOSTA: Thanks very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of NEWSROOM with Wolf Blitzer starts after a short break. Have a great weekend, everybody.
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[11:00:00]
