Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Calls for Republican Party to Move On From Trump; Interview with Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA); Maxine Waters (D-CA) to Hold First of Three Hearings on GameStop Incident. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 18, 2021 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:32:28]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this just in to CNN, some sad news to report. Former Senator Bob Dole has just put out a statement on Twitter that he has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. In the statement, he says his first treatment will begin next week.

He writes this, "While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own."

Of course, we're thinking about him, we wish Senator Dole a full recovery.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a strategy when it comes to President Trump: apparently it is ignore him. My next guest says it's time for the Republican Party to move on from Trump.

Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake writes this in an op-ed this week for CNN, quote, "There is no redeeming his behavior. And let's not continue this tragic charade by further humiliating and debasing ourselves. Let's learn the lessons of this experience, admit our failings and move on."

Now a CNN political commentator, Senator Flake is with me to discuss. Good morning.

JEFF FLAKE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Poppy, how are you.

HARLOW: I'm OK. For you, it's got to be hard to see your party going through this. And I wonder if you think that this now-fight between the former president and Mitch McConnell and the nasty words from the former president to McConnell, if it is seriously crippling your party when it comes to 2022 and 2024.

FLAKE: Well, it certainly has the potential to. But frankly, I think the president's influence is waning, it has already. And I think Mitch McConnell understood, you know, what happened in Georgia and felt burned by it, as did, I think, all Republicans. The president, in pursuing his conspiracy theories about the election, you know, wasn't able to help with those races there -- we lost both of them.

So I think looking forward to 2022, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans realize that we have to move beyond the president.

HARLOW: OK. Well, Nikki Haley, who really stood by the president through a lot -- even after she left her post as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- in this long political article last week, basically said run as far away from the president as you can. And then she wrote in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, blaming the media for what she says is stoking a nonstop Republican civil war.

And she writes, "The media playbook starts with the demand that everyone pick sides about Donald Trump -- either love or hate everything about him..." She goes on to say, "Real life is never that simple. Someone can do both good and bad things."

[10:35:08]

I mean, between that and the interview with Tim Alberta, is Nikki Haley trying to have it both ways? Because you've clearly said no, this is the way I see it, this is how I feel about the former president, this is what our party needs to do. Is she trying to have it both ways?

FLAKE: Well, yes, virtually every politician of standing in a -- you know, an elected position who's up for re-election in two years is going to try to --

HARLOW: Well, she's not a politician right now.

FLAKE: -- straddle that stance (ph). Well no, no, no, I'm -- well, she's -- Nikki Haley and others are looking for 2024, and they're desperately trying to see where the base is going to land. And they don't know yet. They know that what the president did on January 6th, the big lie, you know, ever since the election, was just unconscionable, and they can't stand by that. And Nikki Haley said, clearly, we were mistake as Republicans to follow the president.

So -- but then, you know, realize, hey, where's the base? And so you'll see this -- this straddling going on from a lot of people. Kevin McCarthy stood up, said the president is responsible. And then, you know, did the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. Lindsey Graham, the same thing. So you're going to see this.

I think, in the end, where people are going to land is that the president can only hurt in the races that are really important in the Senate. There are 20 Republicans up, there are a couple of seats that are held by Democrats, Republicans desperately want to regain, and they can't do that by running a Trump-style candidate, it's just not going to happen. Particularly, you know, right here in Arizona.

But there are a lot of those examples, and the president is only going to hurt the ability of Republicans to win in the general election. He can still influence some of the primaries, but in the general election, he doesn't help.

HARLOW: Former Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake, sorry we're a little short of time but we'll have you back soon --

FLAKE: No worries.

HARLOW: -- I appreciate it. OK, thank you.

The White House says teachers do not need to be vaccinated to return to the classroom, but they want teachers prioritized in the vaccination line. This as a new report shows students' test scores are plummeting. We're going to have a former professor, also single mother of three and congresswoman, Katie Porter, here to talk about all of that with us, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:52]

HARLOW: So after days of confusion, the Biden administration now says vaccinating teachers is not required to reopen schools, but the White House also does think teachers should be prioritized for vaccination.

But as this pandemic drags on, it's clear that the toll this is taking on our children's education and mental wellbeing is extreme. My next guest is not only a congresswoman, she's a single mother of three.

Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter tweeted last night, quote, "Our schools, kids and teachers are under incredible stress due to the pandemic, so it's no wonder that test scores are plummeting. As a mother and former teacher, this issue is close to my heart. The administration needs to develop a detailed plan to get all kids back on track."

Congresswoman Porter of California joins me now. Congresswoman, thank you very much for the time this morning. I know you literally, like a minute ago, just got your kids out the door to school.

REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Absolutely. Two of them have school today. Every day's kind of a different schedule. Most of them are in -- two of them are in part-time, one goes every day.

But you know, I think part of this school reopening discussion is that we failed, again and again, to think ahead about what kids and families need. So all of this discussion today about school reopening is a little bit exasperating to me because I started worrying about school reopening oh, I don't know, the day the schools closed.

HARLOW: Yes.

PORTER: Because I really, as a single parent, depend on high-quality public schools to help me take care of my kids, to help make sure they're learning.

HARLOW: Congresswoman it sounds -- I mean, me, too, on the day that they closed. But it sounds to me like you are concerned that the Biden administration -- and this is coming from a Democratic congresswoman -- does not have a clear enough plan now on getting our kids back in school full-time. Is that a correct assessment? PORTER: Well, I think there's two issues. One is how do we get them

back. I think the good thing that President Biden has done is he's pushing. He's pushing, he's asking the right questions, he's setting deadlines and he's mobilizing agencies like the CDC to issue guidance, guidance that then-Senator Kamala Harris and I called for back in the summertime.

The other part of this, though, that I think we're not planning enough is about what's going to happen when they do all go back to school.

And that's where Senator Michael Bennet from Colorado and I have authored a letter to the Department of Education, pointing out to them that we can't just put kids back in school as if their learning and social and emotional development has not been severely interrupted. And this problem is particularly acute with regard to math and science education, so it's a workforce issue and a workforce development issue as well.

HARLOW: You're a former teacher -- law professor, to be exact -- are you satisfied with the Biden administration's answer on vaccinating our teachers? Because sort of in the same breath they're saying you don't have to vaccinate them to get schools back open, but they should be prioritized, meaning we think they're at greater risk, which has obviously got to be concerning to teachers. Are you satisfied with the answer now?

PORTER: I think if we push and make a real effort, is is very possible to offer at least the first vaccine to all teachers here in the next couple of weeks. We're getting through that 65-plus population; I think teachers need to be in the next group. And that's really important for them, to be able to stay in the workforce. It doesn't do any good to open schools only if teachers get sick and go out.

[10:45:15]

HARLOW: As I said, you're a single mom of three, you've got an 8- year-old, 12-year-old and 14-year-old. I think you're the only Democratic member of the caucus who's a single mother of young children.

And you've expressed frustration with the Democratic plan now on the Child Tax Credit. You even wrote this letter to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Richard Neal, saying the way it's structured is unfair to single parents. Why is it unfair?

PORTER: Well, the proposal we're talking about is a Child Tax Credit. The goal here is to address the costs and economic hardships of raising a child, which means that any household that has a child, whether those parents are married or single, ought to receive the same benefit.

And the way the proposal has been structured, which is the way we always structured proposals, actually, is to disadvantage single parents. It's really a single-parent penalty. I'm telling you right now, Poppy, if there is some way out there that

single parents can get a discount on the cost of child care or on the cost of feeding teenagers, let me know. Because it would be a big help to me.

So we need to make sure that single parents, married parents, whatever status your parents are for tax filing purposes, the kid shouldn't receive less resources.

HARLOW: What does that mean? That right now, if it were to get through the way it's structured, that you would get less resources than, say, a married couple that had three kids? You'd actually get less money?

PORTER: Yes, I -- less likely to get money, and it would start to -- so what happens right now is, what they've done is they've said if you're single, not head of household -- I don't know how you get a tax credit if you are that filing status, but -- it would be $75,000. If you're married, double that, $150,000.

If you're head of household, which is how most single parents, who are predominantly women and people of color, file, then your income is halfway in between. So essentially they're saying single parents can make do raising kids on less income before they need the help of this tax credit, and that is just not true.

HARLOW: There is no -- there's no discount if you're a single parent. I mean, just seems so obvious, what you're stating, but I don't think a lot of people know how it's structured.

Let me end on this, 5.3 million women are out of this workforce, their jobs are gone from the beginning of the pandemic. Separately, 2.5 million have left the workforce, largely because they had no choice but to have to stay home and take of their kids, who are not able to be in school.

Do you believe the plan from the Biden administration on this, on the women, getting women back to work issue -- I just talked to Brian Deese about it -- do you believe it's specific enough or do we need more from this administration on that front?

PORTER: This is the strongest plan to advance child care and support working parents that I've certainly seen in my time as a working parent. Just hearing someone in the role that Brian Deese has, use the phrase, "investing in caring workforce"? These are not even phrases that economists bandied about two or four or six years ago.

So do I think this will be enough to equalize the United States, to put us on an equal footing with other countries and their investment in supporting all families? No. Do I think this is an amazing first step and that we're beginning to change the narrative? Helping working families, helping mothers is not something we do for them, it's something we do for all of us because we want to have a strong economy and we want to be able to compete globally.

HARLOW: Yes. And I mention mothers because the numbers show it, but also there are men and there are single dads at home dealing with this predicament as well --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: -- and I don't want to leave them out. Congresswoman, come back soon. We're out of time, but thank you.

PORTER: Thank you.

[10:49:06]

HARLOW: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Do you remember, just a few weeks ago, when regular Main Street investors sent shares of GameStop, AMC, a few other companies surging to levels unheard of? Well, it happened, and it pointed out the market volatility, perhaps unfairness, and it questioned how our markets run.

Well, CEOs of several of the biggest companies involved in all of this, they're about to be on Capitol Hill today to answer lawmaker questions about what happened. Our lead business writer Matt Egan joins me now.

Matt, can you explain to folks why today matters, why this hearing matters so much and what answers they're trying to get?

MATT EGAN, CNN LEAD BUSINESS WRITER: Well, you know, I talked to Maxine Waters, who's in charge of the House panel that is holding this hearing, and she has made clear that she plans to thoroughly investigate exactly what happened when we saw an army of Reddit traders send GameStop and AMC and other shares to the moon.

The plan is to hold multiple hearings. Today's going to be informational, focused on what happened and why Robinhood, the free trading app, imposed trading restrictions. But then she plans to hold a second hearing, that'll include experts, regulators. And a third hearing that will focus on potential legislative fixes.

And you know, Poppy, to your point, this whole episode really shined a bright light on the free trading boom that was set off by Robinhood, and the fundamental fairness of the modern market. Also, how people are gathering on social media, on Reddit specifically, to make investment decisions.

[10:55:06]

I think what (ph) we're (ph) seeing today is the fact that, you know, markets and technology, they move so much faster than laws do. This is Congress hitting the pause button to try to decide what reforms, if any, are necessary.

HARLOW: Except they can't really pause in the middle of it, all that keeps on happening. Matt, we'll watch the hearing, starts today at noon. Thank you very much, Matt Egan. And thanks to all of you for joining me today, I'll see you back here

tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow. NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan is after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]