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Top Dem Ditches Leadership Role Over Biden Re-Election Bid; Money For Egypt Blocked By New Head Of Senate Committee; Search Intensifies For Missing 9-Year-Old Girl In New York; Reports: Women Spend More Out-Of-Pocket On Health Care Than Men. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 02, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:34]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're tracking a live speech from President Biden right now on the South Lawn of the White House. He's delivering remarks celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act, a landmark piece of legislation.

Over the weekend, President Biden faced new headwinds from his own party over his bid to run for re-election in 2024.

Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips announced that he's stepping down from his House leadership role because he doesn't back the Democratic Party in supporting Joe Biden's re-election.

CNN senior political commentator and former senior adviser to Barack Obama, David Axelrod, joins us now live.

David, great to see you, as always.

Are you hearing similar --

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SANCHEZ: -- concerns from other Democrats behind closed doors, perhaps hesitation about supporting Joe Biden that they're not saying publicly?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, what's interesting is that Dean Phillips has basically supported President Biden down the line in the House.

You know, his concerns are, as he's articulated them so far publicly, have more to do with the issue that is on the minds of a lot of Democrats, which is just the president's age.

And he -- you know, he has said in these interviews that he's not thinking that he necessarily would give the nominee of the party but he thought about getting in and joining the debate that he might encourage others who have national networks to get into the race.

[14:35:58] I honestly don't think that's going to happen. I think Democrats have a respect and affection for Biden. I do think there's a lot of anxiety about the issue of his age. There's no doubt about it.

But at this point, Boris, we're pretty far along into the election year. And I think the concern of the -- would not be to do anything that might weaken Biden in the battle that they anticipate is coming with Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: So, on the question of there being anxiety around Biden's age, he would be close to 82 if he's re-elected next year. You mentioned Donald Trump, he would be in his 80s serving as president as well.

How much does the question of age resonate with voters? Is it a top priority?

AXELROD: Well, look, we'll see. I think that's certainly the case that -- that the Republicans are going to make.

And they're going to twin it with assaults on the vice president, Kamala Harris, with the suggestion -- Nikki Haley has been overt about it -- that she's going to be the president if Biden gets re-elected. You're going to hear a lot of that.

The question is it's going to be a war of attrition between assessment of risks.

And on the other side of the aisle, you'll have Donald Trump, who may be a convicted felon, if he's the nominee of the party, by the time he steps in front of the convention in Milwaukee in the summer of 2024.

So voters are going to have to sort these things through.

But, you know, the age issues are not new. I mean, I spoke about this a year ago. To me, it's kind of odd that people are now sort of saying, hey, breaking news, Biden is old. He was 77 when he got elected.

So this is not new. But there is growing concern about it. And Phillips, obviously, is expressing that concern.

I don't know if he's actually helping the Democratic party by -- if he enters the race.

Because as I said, anything that -- unless you're going to replace the president, a primary race, you know, typically, would just weaken a sitting president.

And especially a president you agree with because the implicit message of the campaign would have to be he's just too old.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering what you say to Democrats who argue that a different candidate would have better odds against Donald Trump. Because you're right, he is running away with the Republican nomination. And yet, when you look closely at public polling, they're very close

in age, but voters perceive their age differently. They believe that it weighs more heavily on Biden.

AXELROD: Yes. And I think it has to do with performance.

You know, I think the president has a pretty strong record to run on. He has accomplishments to point to. His issues are performance issues. Trump is a performer. And he's an entertainer, and he's energetic. And so people spend less time on his age.

But they obviously have concerns about this character because his numbers, when you get outside of the Republican primary, are very weak.

You hear Republicans saying, you know, anybody but Donald Trump would defeat Joe Biden. So you have parallel debates going on within the party.

I think, what I say in answer to your question, Boris, I think it's an academic issue because Joe Biden is running, and we're very late in the campaign cycle here. And it seems unlikely to me that anyone could mount a successful challenge.

And, secondly, you need campaigns. People say, well, who would be a stronger candidate than Joe Biden? The president's supporters say that. That's what campaigns are for. That's what you find out in campaigns.

There would be very little time left for a campaign, if Biden were to step out of the race now.

So, you know, I think, for all of these reasons, this is an academic question. It's the source of a lot of hand-wringing among Democrats. It's the source of a lot of interest among the media. But I kind of think that ship has sailed.

SANCHEZ: David Axelrod, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us.

AXELROD: Great to see you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

Jessica?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez is expected to appear in court this hour. And today's appearance will be his first before a district court judge as he faces bribery charges, including allegations he passed sensitive information to the Egyptian government.

Amidst those allegations, Menendez has stepped down from his position as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman. And his successor, Senator Ben Cardin, has blocked a controversial tranche of military aid for Egypt. CNN's national correspondent, Alex Marquardt, is following the story.

Alex, what do we know about the funds? And why were they blocked?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, for starters, it's a huge amount of money, some $235 million, that Egypt was supposed to get. A huge chunk of the overall $1.3 billion in foreign military financing that the U.S. sends to Egypt every year.

[14:40:07]

There were major questions what the new chairman, Senator Cardin, would do with a September 30th deadline. The question was whether he would allow these funds to proceed, to go to Egypt, despite major concerns and, in fact, conditions placed on this financing around human rights issues.

Senator Cardin over the weekend deciding that he would, indeed, block this $235 million, and more funds going forward, he said, unless Egypt takes meaningful and sustainable steps, he said, to improve the human rights conditions in its country.

Now, this was a big question on it, because of the fact that Senator Menendez, as you mentioned, had been indicted specifically for taking bribes to help the Egyptian government, for helping them solidify that military aid to Egypt.

So it was really an additional question for Senator Cardin because he had expressed major concern about this aid for Egypt.

Now Secretary of State Antony Blinken had actually allowed this aid to be sent to Egypt for national security concerns. He used a national security waiver to get around those human rights restrictions.

That was something that was blasted by Senator Cardin just a couple weeks ago. Now, he's put the hold on this money, a hold that has been praised by human rights groups -- Jessica?

DEAN: Alex Marquardt, for us at the State Department, thanks so much for that reporting.

Up next, a frantic search is underway in Upstate New York for a 9- year-old girl who went missing while camping with her family. We'll have the latest for you.

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[14:45:59]

DEAN: An intense search underway right now for a missing 9-year-old girl who officials believe is in imminent danger. New York State Police believe Charlotte Sena was abducted while camping with friends and family on Saturday night. She never returned from a bike ride.

And police have now issued an Amber Alert on Sunday after an exhaustive search came up empty.

Polo Sandoval joins us now.

Polo, what more do we know about this?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, we often hear this is every parent's worst nightmare. This is quite literally it. This 9- year-old little girl who went out for a bike ride and then was never seen or heard from again.

Here we are, almost 48 hours later, a there is a frantic search in Upstate New York at a nearby campground to try to track down Charlotte Sena, 9 years old.

The way we heard it from the New York Governor Kathy Hochul was that she was with some other friends, some other children bike riding at the Moreau Lake State Park where she went camping with her family.

But then she decided to go out one more loop, one more ride around that campground. Well, fifteen minutes later, she never returned. That's when her parents grew concerned. They tried to find her. They found her bike but no Charlotte.

New York State Police were called and that's what eventually prompted a search. And overnight, that's when authorities grew increasingly concerned that she was not just missing but she possibly was abducted as well.

This is one of the latest comments from New York State Police as they tried to explain why an Amber Alert wasn't issued immediately after she went missing on Saturday.

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LT. COL. RICHARD MAZZONE, ASSISTANT DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: Following our exhaustive search of the park, we took that step of issuing the Amber Alert because we felt that, after that exhaustive search, when we couldn't find her here, it was quite possible that an abduction had taken place.

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SANDOVAL: And that's why they believe that she's in imminent danger.

We can put up her photo one more time for viewers to see. She was last seen with a tie-dye Pokemon shirt, blue pants, was about 90 pounds and just over five feet tall.

Her family is saying no tip is insignificant. They're certainly turning to the community for help as they try to find this 9-year-old little girl in Upstate New York -- Jessica?

DEAN: Charlotte Sena, hopefully, somebody saw something that can help investigators.

Polo Sandoval, thanks so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

A church roof collapsed in Mexico that left 11 dead and at least 60 injured. It happened Sunday in a coastal city. More than 100 people were taking part in a Sunday Mass when the roof suddenly collapsed.

Among the injured, 23 remain hospitalized. And an investigation into the cause of the collapse is still ongoing.

Also, in Britain, a second police investigation into entertainer, Russell Brand, has been opened. Thames Valley Police tell CNN that in the past two weeks, they received new information in relation to harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018.

Last week, London's Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into several historic alleged sexual offenses in the U.K. after two British media outlets revealed that comedian, Russell Brand, was accused of rape and sexual assault. The 48-year-old has denied those allegations.

And with no winner in the latest Powerball drawing, tonight's lottery jackpot has soared to more than $1 billion. This Powerball total is now one of the 10 biggest jackpot totals ever in the United States.

If you're lucky enough to pick all of the right numbers in tonight's drawing, not only should you give me a call, you also have the option of a lump-sum payment of around $478 million before taxes.

I hope I have some cousin out there playing this game that is very eager to reconnect.

Still to come, new reports to CNN show how a "Pink Tax" on women is actually hurting their health. We're going to break down some numbers. Stay with us.

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[14:54:19]

DEAN: Two new reports say women are paying more out of pocket than men when it comes to health care, and that's even with health insurance. The so-called "Pink Tax" is especially burdensome for breast cancer patients.

CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, is here with more on what these reports say.

Jacqueline, this should be more surprising than it actually is. Sadly, it doesn't seem -- it seems like we pay a lot more for many things out there. Why are women paying more for their health care?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Jessica. We do know, on average, women tend to see the doctor more than men.

But when you look at the actual numbers overall, one report found that women who have insurance through their employers pay about $15 billion more annually in out-of-pocket health care costs compared with men who have insurance through their employers.

[14:55:00]

This translates to about 18 percent more in out-of-pocket costs among women compared with men. Even though, when you look at health expenditures, women are only at about 10 percent more than men.

This comes down to, it appears, with insurance companies not covering as many services for women as they do for men.

We see that with cancer screenings, for instance. Breast cancer screenings are really more costly than other types of cancer screenings.

So we see this disparity when we look at what's covered for women compared with men.

That's really the takeaway here, Jessica. And this is excluding maternity care, so excluding pregnancy and childbirth, looking at the costs as well.

DEAN: Is there anything that can be done to fix this? Is anyone trying to fix it?

HOWARD: One report is really calling on employers and businesses to examine their benefits packages and to make sure there is equitable coverage for women versus men.

It's also interesting when we think about, we already see gender inequities in wages, for instance, in how much women make each year compared with men. Now we're seeing this in health care spending as well.

So this is really an ongoing conversation -- Jessica?

DEAN: Yes, it certainly is.

All right, Jacqueline Howard, for us, thanks so much.

Happening right now in New York, former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial is beginning. And he is blasting the prosecutors and the judge. Their response. Stay with us.

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