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Dow Opens Higher After Plunge; Candidates Vying for Key Union Endorsements; Jury Convicts Weinstein. Aired 9:30-10a
Aired February 25, 2020 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:34:18]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We're just moments now into the trading day. Markets trying to recover as you watch there after really a brutal day yesterday on Wall Street.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, here's a live look at the big board. The Dow is higher. All three major indices in the black this morning after losing more than 1,000 points yesterday. Stocks up. Markets here and around the world, though, grappling with how exactly to respond to coronavirus.
CNN business correspondent Alison Kosik joins us at the stock exchange.
Look, I mean, they listen to the presser I suppose from the president this morning. Maybe it made U.S. markets feel better after a bloodbath overnight overseas.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we're seeing stocks at this point, Poppy, trying to do their best to bounce back after that dramatic drop on the Dow where we saw it drop more than 1,000 points, erasing all of its gains for the year.
[09:35:06]
But investors are still nervous about the spread of the coronavirus. And I've been talking with traders, analysts and strategists who are questioning President Trump's tactics in trying to reassure the public. One trader saying, with President Trump's tweet yesterday where he said that the coronavirus is very much under control in the USA, and that the stock market is starting to look very good to me. One trader interpreting that as, now the president of the United States is doling out investment advice on Twitter with a buy recommendation --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
KOSIK: Also known as job owning, which is using your position to pressure someone to act a certain way.
SCIUTTO: And it's not the first time he's done that.
Fundamentally, the question here is really an economic one, right? China's economy certainly will slow down from this. I mean they've shut down, you know, large portions of the country here. Do we know how much, as you speak to analysts, traders, et cetera, it has affected the Chinese economy and when do we get the first sense of if that has any impact here in the U.S.?
KOSIK: Well, China's already said -- of course China is the hardest hit country with the coronavirus originating there. China has already said its annualized GDP is expected to fall from 5.8 percent to 5.2. So, you know, it's -- China's really getting -- really taking it on the chin.
But the concern is, is that what the Chinese impact economically is going to have economically here on the U.S., you can just compare it to the SARS outbreak in 2003. China's role in the global economy was much smaller than it is today. It was around 4 percent.
Well, now China has an 18 percent role in global growth. So the concern is, with so many companies making their products -- I mean Apple, for example, makes most of its products, or most of its iPhones, in China and people aren't going to work there, so the phones aren't being made. And then the shipping of it. The -- you know, moving the cargo back and forth. That's not happening as quickly as well.
So that impact. The concern is, is that what -- the warning that we heard from Apple, warning that its going to miss its target in its next quarter --
HARLOW: Yes.
KOSIK: That that is going to be the same sort of repeat we're going to hear from other companies.
HARLOW: Well, that's the question because remember Peter Navarro said to us last week, Apple was sort of an anomaly because it's so dependent on China. Is that going to be the case, or are other companies going to feel this as well?
Alison, thank you very much.
The president, 2020 Dems making their case to union workers across the country, but is this strong economy for now enough to win them over for the president? We'll ask someone who represents more than 12 million union workers, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:57]
HARLOW: OK, so the president is betting on the economy to help him win over especially working class voters in November. So far the AFL-CIO, which represent more than 12 million union workers across this country, has not endorsed a candidate. Do they want to right now?
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, joins me.
Want to start this interview with an endorsement, sir?
RICHARD TRUMKA, PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO: What's that?
HARLOW: Would you like to start this interview with a --
TRUMKA: I'm having trouble hearing you.
HARLOW: Oh, OK. Well, I said, are you going to endorse anyone right now, because you said there will be a thorough endorsement process. Are you ready to make an endorsement?
TRUMKA: No, we're not ready yet. What we're doing is we're putting as many candidates as we can in front of our members so that they can understand them, so that they can understand our issues, our families, our communities, and then we can make a choice, our members can make a choice about who is best for those issues, families and community.
It will take two-thirds of our members to vote on a candidate to endorse. And that won't come until later. We have a forum, a presidential forum, set up on March 12th for the candidates to come in. And our members will actually ask them the questions during that forum so that they can learn more about them.
HARLOW: Sounds like a pretty good process.
You have said, quote, it is time for America to have a pro-union president. Who do you, as a union worker for years and now leading all of these union workers, sir, who do you think is the most pro-union candidate as we sit here today?
TRUMKA: I think right now the most -- the top tier candidates that you've seen on the Democratic side are pretty well pro-worker, pro- union. They understand our issues. They support things that are important to us, our pensions, our health care, the pro act, collective bargaining. They support that for public sector workers and private sector workers. They have been friends -- most of them out there have been friends and have a proven record, a friendship to working people.
HARLOW: OK, let me ask you about the frontrunner right now in the national polling, and that is Senator Bernie Sanders, because you guys differ on a big deal, and that is the USMCA trade deal that replaced NAFTA. It was the first trade deal that the AFL-CIO supported in, you know, some two decades. But here's how Bernie Sanders sees it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We could do much better than a Trump-led trade deal. This deal, and I think the proponents of it, acknowledge will result in the continuation of the loss of hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs as a result of outsourcing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Is Senator Sanders right? TRUMKA: Actually, on that issue, I think he's not right.
Here's what's happening. The Mexican government has used a thing called protectionist contracts to keep Mexican wages artificially low. Because of those artificially low wages, they've been sucking jobs and capital out of the United States. The only way to change that is to get the Mexican workers' wages up so that they can actually have a fair wage and become a consumer of our products.
[09:45:07]
This treaty has made them change the laws, will make them enforce the laws and gives us the ability to stop their product at the border if they do not comply with the laws in the treaty.
Now, look, it's going to take eight or ten years for those wages to get up, but as the Chinese say, every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. That treaty was the first step in that journey.
HARLOW: Yes. And, look, the statement you guys put out in December said it's far from perfect and it has room to grow.
I do wonder, you know, that's your response to Senator Sanders' view on USMCA.
Mike Bloomberg has a make or break night tonight I think many people view the debate as. And I wonder how you think a president Bloomberg would be for union workers across America.
TRUMKA: Well, we sent out a survey to every candidate that asked a lot of questions, detailed questions, and Mike Bloomberg filled out that survey and actually the section on workers was quite well -- he did quite well with us. He understands the need for collective bargaining. He understands and has worked with unions in New York City.
He understands that both public sector workers and private sector workers need to have the ability to collective bargaining and he knows that the laws, as currently put in place in the United States, were put in place in 1935. They're antiquated. They need to be changed to give workers a more fair shake and more power in the economy so they can raise their wages.
HARLOW: Let me end on this, and that is what we saw take place in Nevada, and that is the very powerful Nevada Culinary Union declined to endorse anyone. And that's an endorsement that can really help. It helped Obama a lot to win the state in 2008.
They're not endorsing. And we hear, you know, on -- in protest, et cetera, some concerns that union members across the country, some of them, have about Senator Sanders and what Medicare for all would mean for their health care plans that they fought a lot for.
How widespread do you think that concern is among those workers you represent? TRUMKA: I -- well, first of all, the culinary workers did exactly what
we would hope they would do. They're giving every candidate out there a fair chance. They extracted from Bernie Sanders a very, very important clarification in that process.
Bernie Sanders said that he would not sign a bill that would take away or lower the benefits of any worker. Now that's a major important point for us because we believe, and a lot of our members believe, that the bill, or his program as constituted could have resulted in less health care for them.
HARLOW: Well --
TRUMKA: Having said that, I think they did a good job of giving their members the information. And that's what this is all about, getting as much information, clarifying issues, getting the candidates to talk to our members so that our members feel comfortable with them.
It would -- Sanders plan would replace the system that they have now. He says it would be equal, if not better. That's for each person to decide.
Richard Trumka, obviously you represent those with a very important voice in all of this. Come back soon.
SCIUTTO: They have a very big voice coming up in 2020.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: The other story we're following this morning, the convicted rapist, Harvey Weinstein, remains in the hospital this morning. The disgraced movie mogul complaining of chest pains. This, of course, follows his conviction yesterday. We're going to be live outside Bellevue Hospital in New York, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:53:07]
HARLOW: Right now, disgraced Hollywood mogul and now convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is sitting in the prison ward of a hospital in New York City. This is after the jury found him guilty of sex assault charges yesterday. And then on his way to Rikers Island, he complained of chest pains, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital.
SCIUTTO: So, Jean, we know you're there at Bellevue Hospital. What do we know about his condition? And does this then affect next steps in the legal proceedings? And, of course, he's got Los Angeles coming up as well, charges there.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think we'll -- I think we'll have to see how long he stays here. Donna Rotunno, lead attorney for the defense, confirmed with me that as he was being taken to the medical unit at Rikers, because of his back and eye issues, that he started developing chest pains, heart palpitations, high blood pressure. So they went to the emergency room here at Bellevue and last word he remains there.
Now, while the focus is on the defendant, by some, the district attorney of New York county is focusing on what this verdict really means.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CY VANCE, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This is the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault in America, I believe. And this is a new day.
DAWN DUNNING, TESTIFIED AGAINST HARVEY WEINSTEIN: He's a convicted rapist and that is, you know, victory to all women, particularly the women who have come forward. I don't look at this as the end of a trial, it's the beginning of something bigger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And that was Dawn Dunning. She was on "NEW DAY" this morning. She is one of the six accusers that testified in this trial as a witness to show the pattern of Harvey Weinstein.
HARLOW: You know, Jean, I know you talked to the defense team about their next steps. And I want to get to that in a moment. But it is a -- it is such a moment and such a movement in the culmination of, you know, really where -- where Me Too began and a case that was a tough case to win for a number of reasons.
[09:55:05]
So the fact that they were able to get that guilty count I think says a lot about the moment.
But to your reporting on where the defense goes from here.
CASAREZ: Well, they're going to appeal. And that won't happen until after sentencing. But they -- they told me that they have a number of issues, but the focus and the theme will be this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Did Harvey Weinstein get a fair trial?
DONNA ROTUNNO, HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S ATTORNEY: I don't know if Harvey Weinstein could get a fair trial.
DAMON CHERONIS, HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S ATTORNEY: I don't know if he could get one anywhere. And it's not even the jurors' fault, really. You know, when you come into a courtroom and you're inundated for the last two years about the Harvey Weinstein story, and reports about him, it's very hard for jurors, I think, to keep that out of their mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So they are referring to that movement. Now, I asked them both, what were the last things that you said to Weinstein before the verdict was read. They said they told him to not give any outward emotion, and to be strong, that those two things were important to be respectful to the court. They told me he did just that.
Jim. Poppy.
HARLOW: Jean Casarez, appreciate your reporting throughout this trial. Thank you very much.
Tonight is big. It's a big one for any Democrat who wants to be president. They will all likely, many of them, be going after Bernie Sanders on the debate stage. Will the frontrunner be able to fend off those attacks?
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