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Race For Speaker Of The House Faces Setback; Sensitive Nuclear Sub Secrets Shared; UAW Auto-Workers Strike Enters 4th Week Amidst GM Reports $200 Million Cost Due To Strike; Largest Healthcare Strike Nears End; Russia Targets Civilians In Ukraine; Nobel Peace Prize Awarded To Imprisoned Iranian Activist. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 06, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The race to replace Kevin McCarthy hits a speed bump amid backlash over a planned speakers forum on Fox News. The potential successors all pulling out of that event. But Congressman Jim Jordan did seal a big endorsement from former president Donald Trump and the opposite of an endorsement from former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Meantime, the former president reportedly discussed sensitive nuclear sub secrets with an Australian billionaire who then shared that information with dozens of foreign officials, journalists, and employees. And we are weeks into the UAW strike against the big three automakers. At any moment, we'll find out if the union is going to expand the strike again. We are following all of these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Uncertainty and intrigue on Capitol Hill surrounding who will be the next speaker of the house. Both the leading candidates, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, are working their divided conference trying to shore up support for next week's critical vote. Right now, neither congressman has the votes they need to win the gavel. But former president Donald Trump is putting his thumb on the scale by backing Jim Jordan's run. Let's get more on today's backdoor maneuvering from CNN Capitol Hill reporter, Melanie Zanona. Melanie, this contest obviously far from settled. What have you been hearing about who might have the edge?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITAL HILL REPORTER: Boris, you're exactly right. This race is far from settled. In fact, there is concern that no candidate at this point is going to be able to get the 218 votes needed to become the speaker on the house floor. Both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan have been furiously working the phones over the past few days, meeting with members, trying to make their pitch. And I'm told that Scalise has really centered his argument on the idea that he has the leadership experience and the institutional knowledge to be able to govern with this unruly House Republican conference. And he's also pointed out in his conversations with members, I'm told,

that he has campaigned for nearly every single vulnerable House Republican, which could go a long way in winning their support. And then with Jim Jordan, his argument has really centered on the idea that he is best positioned to unite the fructitious conference right now. And in part, that's because he has the ear of the House Freedom Caucus, a group that he once founded and a group that has been behind a lot of the chaos that we have seen on the House floor this year. Our Manu Raju caught up with Jim Jordan earlier today. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What is different between you and Steve Scalise?

REP. JIM JORDON, CANDIATE FOR SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE (R - OH): I think this race comes down to two questions. I said this yesterday. Who can unite the conference? Who can also unite, I guess, maybe three questions. Who can unite the conference? Who can unite conservative Republicansin our party around the country? I appreciate the president's endorsement. He's the leader of the party. He's gonna be our presidential nominee, and I think he's gonna be our next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: Now, of course, a Donald Trump endorsement could go a long way with the far right and conservatives, but Jordan is still gonna have to win over the moderates in his party, who are gonna be a key constituency, and many of them are still skeptical of Jordan's flame- throwing brand of politics. But also, just to give you a sense of how chaotic and messy things are right now, we were told this morning that the speaker candidates were gonna be on a Fox News joint televised appearance on Monday, but I started hearing a lot of concernfrom other members in the party about that idea.

They said it was gonna be a circus and that this was a horrible idea and that they shouldn't be airing out their speaker drama on TV before they address members behind closed doors. So it wasn't long before after that that both candidates, Scalise and Jordan, decided to back out of that event. I'm told they had a conversation together and decided it wasn't a wise idea, so that forum is no longer on. But, House Republicans will hold their own speaker forum for all the candidates next Tuesday, and then they will hope to hold an internal leadership election on Wednesday. It remains to be seen, though, if and when they'll be able to go to the floor with a vote. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now, all eyes on Capitol Hill this week and into early next week. Melanie Zanona, thank you so much for the update. Pam.

[14:05:24]

BROWN: Thanks so much, Boris. Incidentally, the congressman who lost the gavel, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, isn't saying who he supports in this race. Let's discuss what's happening with Doug Heye, Republican strategist and former RNC communications director and with Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist and host of the podcast Hot Mics from Left to Right. All right, Doug, how much will this fight hinge on the more moderate members of the Republican conference?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AAND FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, that's a part of it. But what you're seeing in what we just saw is you're making two different cases. Jim Jordan is talking a lot about what he's going to do. Steve Scalise is talking about what he has done, meaning I've gone into your congressional districts, conservative, moderate, wherever you are in the caucus. And these are different approaches that they're going to take. I think if you're Scalise, the moderates are certainly more likely to go to you. But Steve Scalise is not going to position himself as a moderate. When he came into Congress, he quickly joined the Republican Study Committee, which is a much larger group of health conservatives, eventually ran that, which is what put him in leadership.

BROWN: What do you think, Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The problem with that is that neither one is really talking about what they have to do. And what they have to do is to bring together two very separate and hugely far apart factions within the Republican Party, the extremist MAGAs that we know what they're capable of and what they will do if the speaker and the leadership does not do what they want. And then the more moderates. Let's remember, there are 18 Republicans that are -- that have their their their are in districts that Biden won. And they are very concerned about what it is that they're going to have to do in order to elect the next speaker.

I don't see how they thread that needle. And the way that they also have to, I assume, be talking about this, though it's a danger zone, is that in order to get anything done for the American people, they are at some point going to have to sit down with Democrats, negotiate with Democrats and in a bipartisan way, move forward, most notably in the few very short weeks in order to avoid another government shutdown. So I don't know how that needle is threaded. And from the looks of it, with just what happened and everybody kind of putting together their coalitions to run for speaker, it looks like a banana republic after a coup trying to get together. And if they don't do that, they're going to continue to be similar to a failed state within the House of Representatives.

HEYE: Let me say real quick about House moderates in the Republican conference. We often hear House moderates are going to flex their muscles. The reality is we hear it all the time and nothing usually happens. They don't know where the gym is to build the muscles, to flex themusually. This is now a flashpoint for not just the Congress, but for the Republican conference. This can be their moment to make their their real impact.

BROWN: I'm wondering how Donald Trump factors into all of this, because of course he does. Right. I mean, now he's endorsing Jim Jordan. He does not like to sit on the sidelines, although he did with the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Now he clearly wants to be front and centerin this. And I'm wondering how you think this plays into to to everything. Does it you know, does it actually help? Does it matter? Does his support matter? Or are there Republicans who don't want a future speaker who is beholden to President former President Trump?

HEYE: All of the above. And anybody who wants to be speaker would certainly like to have Donald Trump support. But let's remember two things. One, as we as we saw in the last campaign, Donald Trump would endorse somebody. They'd get a burst of momentum. They might win. They might lose. They might win with a third of the vote. Thirty two percent here. Thirty - thirty five percent there. So it's not determinative. The other is wherever you go in the Capitol, you see signs that say members only. You see people who wear pins. You can be a leadership staffer. You can work in the Capitol. If you're not a member, you don't get to vote. It's a club. And that's why whenever there's talk about it might not be a member. We all we all know the speaker is going to be a member. Donald Trump is influence, but he's not really in that room for that purpose.

BROWN: It's interesting because both of the the, you know, Scalise and Jordan, they're really catering to Republicans. They're trying to build a coalition of Republican support towin the speakership. They're not really catering to Democrats, Maria. And on that note, Hakeem Jeffries just penned an op ed in The Washington Post saying a bipartisan coalition is the way forward for the House. And he is calling on Republicans to break with the, quote, MAGA extremism and join the Democrats in a coalition leadership. Is that at all realistic?

Well, I don't think so. And that goes exactly to what I was just saying, because no one is talking about doing that. And that is exactly what needs to be done in order to do what what -- what the American people, frankly, hired them to do. Right. And to Doug's point, if only the Republicans in Congress in the House of Representatives felt that way, felt that they weren't completely beholden to Donald Trump, because I think that has been the problem all along. None of them or very few of them have shown the backbone to stand up to somebody like Donald Trump. Because they're afraid of his supporters. They're afraid that they will be primaried back at home, except for maybe the 18 who won in Biden districts. And so when you have that, it's very difficult to find a way forward, to find a way specifically through the center, because bipartisanship, compromise, negotiating with the Democratshas become a very bad word within the Republican conference. And how do you get work done if that's the case?

[14:10:29]

BROWN: Well, and actually, in some of those Republicans in the districts where Biden won, like Rep. Lauder of New York, I'm thinking of, they're not so happy with Democrats for not getting on board with saving McCarthy, right? And so the question is, would Democrats, would they be willing to get on board with some of those more moderate Republicans to, in terms of, you know, voting on the next speaker? Would they be willing to do that, you think?

CARDONA: I think they would, if they would actually go to the Democrats and talk about what is the work plan. The problem with McCarthy is that he could not be trusted. Democrats tried to work with him, did work with him, back in May, with the White House, with Democrats. Kevin McCarthy came to an agreement in order to raise the debt ceiling, to focus on spending levels, in order to avoid exactly what just happened. And why did what just happened happen?

Because he went back on his word. And when he started getting pressure from the Matt Gaetz and the MAGA extremists, he was like, oh, you're right, I'm not gonna do that anymore. And that's why he boxed himself in with the corrupt bargain that he went into to begin within order to get the speaker's gavel. You can't do that if you are going to actually lead with values and with trust and be able to goto the opposite party, which we know in divided government you have to do in order to get things done.

And so if the next person who is up for speaker has the backbone to say, I am going to lead, no matter what it takes, I'm going to work with my coalition to figure out how do we move forward, and then I'm gonna work with the Democrats to get things done for the American people, then I think, yes, Democrats would be able to work with that person.

BROWN: All right, Maria Cardona, Doug Heye, great to see you both on this Friday. Thanks for offering your perspective. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Pam. Look, no matter who becomes the next speaker, a top issue they will likely have to address right away is immigration. As officials report a surge in migrants crossing the Southern border, the Biden administration has taken some controversial steps in the last 24 hours that seemingly contradict their own policies and promises. The Biden administration yesterday announced that they are laying the legal groundwork to expand former President Trump's border wall by roughly 20 miles. To do that, the Department of Homeland Security is gonna waive some 26 laws, mostly about the environment, to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, something that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a filing was an immediate need.

In fact, let's get into that specific portion of the filing. It says there is presently an acute and immediate need, acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to protect, or rather prevent, unlawful entries. After intense blowback over the move, the secretary appeared to contradict that yesterday in Mexico City. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There is no new administration policy with respect to the border wall. From day one, this administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer. That remains our position, and our position has never waivered. The language in the Federal Register notice is being taken out of context, and it does not signify any change in policy whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: You saw the context of the filing. Meantime, President Biden is answering to claims that he broke this campaign promise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There will not be another foot of wall constructedon my administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So how does the White House explain this move? CNN's Kevin Liptack tried to get answers from the press secretary yesterday. Here's his exchange with Kareem Jean-Pierre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITEHOUSE REPORTER: He said in 2020 as a candidate, so after this law was passed in 2019, that there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration. How can you say that he's not breaking that promise?

KARINE JEAN _ PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, what I can say is that there's a law that the DHS is complying with. We believe in the rule of law,and that's what we're moving forward with.

(END VIDEO CLIP:

SANCHEZ: There is truth there. In 2019, under President Trump, Congress appropriated funds specifically for border construction in the Rio Grande Valley. Nearly $200 million had to be used for the projectby the end of the fiscal year that just ended on September 30th. So essentially, it was use it or lose it. That's the argument we heard yesterday from President Biden in the Oval Office.

[14:14:59]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The border wall, the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money, they didn't, they wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what was appropriate. I can't stop that.

UNKNOWN: Do you believe the border wall works?

BIDEN: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, in theory, if you don't believe a border wall works, you could have let that money go unspent, right? President Biden reiterated that stance again today from the Oval Office. We should note the president is right about his administration trying to get Congress to use those funds for something else, which they did. And Congress essentially ignored in 2021. But let's remember some important context. Democrats held both chambers of Congress for the first two years of Biden's presidency. So he argues that his hands are now tied. But for two years, Democrats had the key, notably on an issue that both sides have been hounding Biden to act on for months and that no doubt will be central in the race for president in 2024.

And speaking of that presidential race, we have some news about former President Donald Trump. He reportedly shared sensitive nuclear secrets with an Australian billionaire at Mar-a-Lago. We're going to speak to one of his former press secretaries about that in just moments. And we're nearly a month into the autoworkers strike against the big three. We're going to speak to a UAW leader about where negotiations stand going into the weekend. Plus, we're down to the final 24 hours of the largest health care strike in the country's history. But negotiations are not over and another bigger strike could soon be on the way. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Stay tuned.

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[14:20:09]

BROWN: Well, the auto workers strike is entering its fourth week, and many are expecting the strikes to expand to even more facilities owned by the big three auto makers. The president of the union, Auto Workers, giving an update right now on the strikes as we speak. And in the meantime, General Motors claims the strikes have cost the company $200 million in its first two weeks. But it's still selling plenty of pickup trucks, SUVs, and cars, reporting that third quarter sales rose 21% over last year's.

UAW President Shawn Fain is speaking right now, as we said. He has just said they're making progress. Here to discuss this is Tony Totty, president of UAW Local 14 in Toledo, Ohio. Thanks for coming on. So, Shawn Fain, speaking moments ago, said that GM made a major concession about electric battery manufacturing and that the strike is working. Tell us what that means. Why is this so significant?

TONY TOTTY, PRESIDENT UAW LOCAL 14 (TOLEDO - OH): Thank you for having me, Pam. It's very important because we're talking about the future. You know, we know what today looks like. But these battery facilities are so important to be in our master agreement. When you look at electric vehicles, they don't take engines. And if they were to close an engine facility, where would those workers go if not to the new technology, which is batteries?

Currently, right now, we have a Lordstown facility that makes batteries. In 2019, General Motors closed Lordstown, and those members were sprayed all across the country. But it would have been nice for them to be able to stay right there at home and work in that battery facility. So General Motors didn't want Arlington Assembly to go down today. And it's good news that we're making progress at the table. This is a game changer to get these battery facilities in our master agreements.

BROWN: So, you say it's a game changer. How is morale, though, now that we're three weeks into the strike? How are the workers doing?

TOTTY: You know, I think the unintended consequence for this strategy is a lot of anxiety. I'm sure, you know, I'm looking now. There's 60,000 people tuned into this Facebook Live that's taking place with the international president, Shawn Fain, because they want to know what their future is. Not only long term for, you know, having these battery facilities in our agreement, but the very short term of am I going to be out on strike next week? So, a lot of anxiety, but we know we deserve a fair deal. And hopefully these CEOs understand that and start dealing with us on a fair level.

BROWN: General Motors and Ford are laying off an additional 900 non- striking workers between them, blaming that on the expansion of the strike last week. What are you hearing from members about that?

TOTTY: Well, that happened to us. We make transmissions for the Lansing Delta Township facility. We were signing members up just yesterday for strike pay. So that has a real impact on my members here in Toledo. But, you know, they know what we're striking for. You know, these corporations have been taking advantage of us for the past 16 years. We had a concessionary contract in '07, the bankruptcy in '09, couldn't strike in 2011. And then we had terrible leadership in the president's position. The last two contracts. So, you know, the time's up for these bad deals. And these corporations taking advantage of us. The economic environment's good for us to have a fair deal now. And today is just representation of the fact that it's working.

BROWN: All right. Tony TottY, thanks for coming on for us. Boris.

SANCHEZ: From one strike to the largest health care strike in U.S. history, now in its third and final day. More than 75,000 workers are expected to step off the picket lines and go back to work tomorrow morning for Kaiser Permanente. But union leaders warn they'll call another round of strikes if they don't get to a contract next week that'll bring workers better pay and fixes short staffing. CNN's Natasha Chen is live at the picket lines in Los Angeles with more. So, Natasha, are workers there feeling a beat about the way that talks are going?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, there haven't really been talks in the last 24, 48 hours at least that we know of. The union just put out a statement today saying that the next scheduled bargaining sessions aren't until next Thursday and next friday I just spoke with one of the strike captains here who said that she's not really that surprised that that's the case, that there hasn't been a lot of motion in the last day or two based on how things had been progressing, but certainly disappointed. .

[14:25:19]

And right now, what you're seeing behind me are hundreds of people from the Sunset Boulevard location here in Los Angeles listening to one of their union leaders addressing them here on this final day of the scheduled three-day strike. They do go back to work tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., but like you said, since there doesn't seem to be an agreement pending here, they can call another strike. They have to give 10 days' notice, and those bargaining sessions are scheduled for next week.

Now, we talked to some patients about how this has affected them this week. Some of them had some issues with getting the services they needed, but a lot of them here coming out of this facility had zero problems. One person that we talked to yesterday went to the ER because she had severe abdominal pain, yet she's also a healthcare worker at a different hospital system, and she got really emotional talking to us about how she understands their efforts here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRIESHA MALBROUGH, KAISER PATIENT: You want to just try to respect that, but at the same time, you're in an emergency situation, so you have to choose also your health. And I get it. And it was like, I cried when I walked into the threshold of the hospital. I teared up and I cried, and I felt bad, and I even told the personnel there, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I felt bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: The one thing that I'm hearing pretty consistently from a lot of patients is that they do have an ongoing problem getting appointments and seeing providers in a timely fashion. One person I spoke to this morning, a Kaiser member, said she couldn't get an appointment until next year for an annual, and for her daughter's follow-up psychiatry appointment. So, they actually do understand what these workers are saying when it comes to understaffing.

The healthcare system, Kaiser, has said that they have offered wage increases, and I think we can show you the percentage increases that they're offering, versus what the union is asking for. The union's asking for a bit more. The union's also demanding that this issue of understaffing get solved, and that they're very concerned that Kaiser may be outsourcing or wanting to outsource some of their jobs. So, we will continue to track and see how these negotiations go, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Natasha Chen, live from the picket lines in Los Angeles. Thank you so much. Russia targets civilians once again, destroying a residential building with an airstrike just a day after dozens were killed in an attack on a storefront. Still ahead, a live report from Ukraine. Plus, an imprisoned Iranian activist getting the Nobel Peace Prize. We'll bring you her story in just a few minutes.

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