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FBI Director Wray Faces GOP Critics In House Hearing; Wray Grilled About Pipe Bomb Investigation That Hasn't Identified Suspect; Wray: FBI Created New Unit To Focus On Threats To Bureau Personnel After Mar-a-Lago Search; U.S. Inflation Cooled In June For 12th Straight Month; Iowa Governor: Will Sign 6-Week Abortion Ban Friday. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 12, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:08]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: The head of the FBI right now facing some tough Republican questions on the Hill. Republicans have launched accusations, as may be familiar, at Christopher Wray, accusing his entire department of deliberately targeting conservatives.

Here is Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan.

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REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): American speech is censored, parents are called terrorists, Catholics are called radicals, and I haven't even talked about the spying that took place on a presidential campaign or the raiding of a former president's home.

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KEILAR: Wray, of course, was FBI director under Trump as well.

Regardless, CNN's Alayna Treene is on Capitol Hill.

I wonder, Christopher Wray certainly had to have his team prepare him for exactly these kinds of charges in this hearing here. How has he been responding?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jim, Wray was clearly trying to push back on some of the conspiracy-related claims that were being thrown at him.

But also trying to be as forthcoming as possible with the committee's questions. Even though a lot of the questions were related to investigations that were ongoing.

But I want to point out that the hearing kicked off with Jim Jordan, the chairman of the committee, launching a wide array of attacks against FBI leadership.

Including allegations that the FBI helped suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, as well as claims that whistleblowers in the FBI were retaliated against, and other questions about the handling of the FBI's strategy on threats to school boards.

We also heard a lot of Republicans allege that Wray has lost the trust of people within the FBI. That's something that Wray pushed back on by saying that, in recent years, actually, applications to the FBI have gone up.

Let's listen to that exchange.

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[13:35:01]

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): People trusted the FBI more when J. Edgar Hoover was running the place than when you are. And the reason is because you don't give straight answers. And it appears as though you're whitewashing the conduct of corruption.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Respectfully, Congressman, in your home state of Florida, the number of people applying to come work for us and devote their lives working for us is over -- up over 100 percent.

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TREENE: And, Jim, I think another notable moment from that hearing today was when Republican Congressman Thomas Massey questioned Wray about the pipe bomb that was found at the DNC on January 6, 2021.

Massey asked why the FBI has not been able to share more information about that event and also why they have not yet identified a suspect. He played a video that showed an individual that appeared to be wearing a backpack near the location where that pipe bomb was found.

And Wray pushed back, saying, listen, this is an ongoing investigation. I can't offer much information.

But he did say the FBI had conducted thousands of interviews and reviewed tens of thousands of hours of video footage, including the video footage that Massey showed.

And, so far, they're still trying to identify who the suspect is. And we're waiting to hear more of what that is.

So a lot of this hearing has been very political from both sides, questions from Republicans and Democrats alike really serious in their grilling of Wray.

And I think we'll continue to see some of that hostile questioning throughout the rest of the day today -- Jim?

KEILAR: Why is that pipe bomb incident a focus of Republican questioning? That of course, as the video time stamp video showed there, happened on January 6th as you had hundreds of people assaulting the capital. Why are GOP lawmakers zeroing in on that?

TREENE: That's a good question. I think there have been some claims and allegations, of course, unverified, around the motivations of that pipe bomb.

And I think a key thing here is that Republicans are angry that there hasn't been more information. And they also were clearly pressing Wray on why have they not been able to share information, both with Congress and the American public, and identify a suspect at this time.

But again, Wray said that this was an ongoing investigation. He really couldn't provide more information beyond that -- Jim?

KEILAR: All right, thanks so much.

I do also want to bring in CNN security correspondent, Josh Campbell, who spent years as a supervisory agent at the FBI.

One consequence of the former president's attacks on the FBI as well as GOP lawmakers now is personal attacks on FBI agents, threats, et cetera.

And I wonder what kind of impact is this having on the men and women in the FBI that you're still in touch with, and how broad have those threats been?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the FBI employees are dogged people. They're not getting their feelings hurt, they're not losing sleep.

But it does come down to issues of safety and issues of effectiveness.

First, safety. We know that Donald Trump's election lies, the lies that he spread about the FBI, that search at Mar-a-Lago, have been followed by actual violence.

Take, for instance, last year in Cincinnati. There was a Trump supporter, someone who was prolific on the former president's social media site, who attacked an FBI field office there in Cincinnati.

And after opening fire inside the visitor's center, he fled and engaged in a shoot-out with police driving down the road. He was eventually killed during that encounter. But an actual violent attack at an FBI field office.

So that is why, as Wray mentioned, this new unit has been stood up to protect FBI employees.

And finally, there is a real issue of effectiveness. If the FBI doesn't have the trust of the American people, then they're not as effective.

It is worth pointing out -- and, Jim, you know this very well -- these hearings, like the Oversight hearings today, these aren't meant to be love fests. This is, in theory, the legislative branch exercising oversight over a

very powerful law enforcement agency. But so often, we've seen it turn into political food fights where, at least a lot of them are trying to score points to help the former president in this upcoming election.

SCIUTTO: Yes, less interested in the answers, right, than the questions themselves.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Josh Campbell, thanks so much.

Brianna?

[13:39:11]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Better than expected and a lot better than just 12 months ago. Markets rising as inflation is falling faster than analysts predicted. So why don't more Americans approve of President Biden's handling of the economy? We have that ahead.

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KEILAR: What a difference a year makes. U.S. inflation easing for the 12th straight month. The Consumer Price Index showing a sharp and better-than-expected cooldown.

The annual inflation rate now just 3 percent. If you compare that to June of last year when inflation was spiking to 9.1 percent, it is quite the difference.

And then there is more good news. Gas prices are down as well compared to last year. But inflation is still stubborn at the grocery store and it is also stubborn for housing.

Still, the markets are up again. Following today's report right now. As you see right there, looking at the Dow, up 135 points. The NASDAQ up 173.

We have CNN's Jeremy Diamond here with us in house, no less, to talk about these numbers.

Obviously, welcome news for the White House and the president, who is overseas.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. And you will hear this time and again from the White House as they get good economic news, Bidenomics in action, is the buzzword from the White House on this.

[13:45:02]

And look, year over year inflation, you just said it, 3 percent. Just up 0.2 percent month over month. So this is really positive news, for the economy, for the White House as well, and potentially for the president's re-election prospects. If you look at the change year over year -- so there is past three

months, month over month, 0.2 percent.

But if you look at the last year, year and a half, when you look at how far we've come down from that 9 percent peak, it really does peak. And that because, over the last 12 months, we've seen straight declines in inflation.

Now what we're also seeing is that wages are also outpacing inflation. And ideally, for the White House, that leads to Americans actually starting to feel the fact that inflation is coming down that much more.

KEILAR: So it should be great politically, and yet there is always this thing which frustrates every president, which is there is a disconnect between how Americans are actually feeling about the economy and these numbers.

DIAMOND: Yes. And that's why you saw a couple weeks ago the U.S. launched this Bidenomics economic push, which is aimed at lifting up some of this good economic news that we're seeing here.

It is also trying to convince Americans that the economy is actually starting to do well.

This White House is increasingly convinced, they can hit the soft landing. But the question is, can you flip the numbers?

Most Americans feel negative about the economy. They feel negative about the president's handling of the economy. But surprisingly, that should feel more or less positive about their personal finances in certain consumer surveys.

So we'll see if the White House can flip those numbers heading into the presidential election.

KEILAR: They've been through a lot, Americans really have, economically. And it's hard, I think, for them to let go of that.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Protests are up after lawmakers in Iowa outlawed abortion after six weeks when, as you know, most women don't realize they're pregnant. So what happens now? We'll have more.

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[13:51:20] SCIUTTO: Despite political pressure and protesters' efforts to stop it, in a few days, Iowa is expected to officially join the dozen or so GOP-led states that have instituted extremely strict limits on abortion.

That's the shades of orange on this map right here.

Governor Kim Reynolds said she'll sign on Friday the state's new bill banning abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, which, we should note, that is a time when most women do not yet know they're pregnant.

CNN chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is here.

Jeff, first the politics of this, Iowa is the first-in-the-nation state, so relevance in the 2024 presidential race but also, just more broadly, for Republicans nationally.

Six weeks, that's not a position that most people in this country support.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. Public opinion polls both in Iowa and across the country show that the vast majority of Americans support some type of abortion rights. Six weeks is not among there.

But interestingly, Governor Kim Reynolds, who called this special session. She is behind this drive. She'll be signing this bill into law Friday, the same day most of the Republican candidates will be in Iowa for a forum with evangelical voters.

Most of them, except for Donald Trump. He's, of course, an outlier here who has supported limiting abortion rights but has not put a number on it.

So that's the question here going into the next few months of this campaign, is this going to box in some Republicans, including Nikki Haley and others, who didn't want to support something as extreme as six weeks?

Mike Pence, the former vice president, put out a statement earlier today. He's supportive of this six-week ban.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ZELENY: He believes it's necessary.

But look, this is one of the state-by-state decisions that is in the wake of the Supreme Court decision last year.

The bigger question is the federal ban. Some Republican candidates also have been supportive of that.

But the whole point of the Supreme Court ruling was to send it back to the states. This is exactly what Governor Reynolds is signing on Friday. We'll see if it holds up in the courts.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's up to the states. The promise sort of disappeared quite quickly at least in Republican politics since then.

We've often seen legal challenges to laws such as this one. Is there one in the works in Iowa? And is it one that has a chance of success?

ZELENY: Planned Parenthood is saying they plan to file some type of court intervention asking for courts to intervene before the Friday signature. Because the minute the governor signs this into law, it takes effect immediately. So we'll see what the courts say about this.

We should point out, this was an original law passed in 2018 and the courts blocked this. Of course, what has happened since then is the Supreme Court decision. And the Iowa courts have said the legislature had to revote on it. That's what the governor did.

But the legal action, of course, is coming. Many states have blocked this temporarily or permanently with legal action. We'll see how it plays out.

But for now at least, politically speaking, injected right into the campaign. The bigger question in a general election setting, this is squarely on the opposing side of the majority of public opinion.

SCIUTTO: By the way, in recent poling, on the opposite side of public opinion in the state of Iowa --

ZELENY: Right.

SCIUTTO: -- by large margins.

Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

ZELENY: Thanks.

[13:54:36]

SCIUTTO: And please do stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're following all the developments overseas as the president is wrapping up a key part of that overseas trip.

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SCIUTTO: High praise and some patience. At the NATO summit, President Biden said Ukraine's resilience and resolve are a model for the world. And he vowed to give everything we can in its fight against Russia. But the thing Ukraine wants most is off the table for now.

[13:59:49]

KEILAR: And an inspiring run comes to an end. American Christopher Eubanks falling in the quarter finals at Wimbledon but not before winning over tennis fans across the world.

We're following these major stories and more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.