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Biden and Obama Team Up; Stocks Soar Two Days in a Row; Mortgage Rates Drop Under 7 Percent; Officials Warn over Ukraine; CDC Urges Vaccines. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 15, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hey, President Biden, is Obamacare still a thing? Is it still a thing?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes, Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, Bidencare, whatever you call it, yes, it is still a thing.

The other side's been trying to repeal it every year since its existed, but we'll keep fighting to protect it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: First on CNN, Barack Obama to the rescue. The former president joining us with President Biden to try and clearly help shore up support for Biden's re-election. And the video said to be put out by the White House. The duo vowing to protect and expand Obamacare. And did you see what he did there, Obama even making the case, you could call it Bidencare, in his appearance. All seen as a response to Donald Trump's recent turn on the campaign trail to attacking the Affordable Care Act once again and promising to never give up on eliminating it.

CNN's Kevin Liptak has this reporting first on CNN.

Kevin, it's great to see you.

Talk to me more about this video and how this -- how you are hearing this fits into Biden's re-election strategy.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I certainly think it shows you that health care is going to be a major part of next year's election. And it's always interesting to see how this White House chooses to deploy the former president. He -- of course he remains enormously popular among Democrats. And the Affordable Care Act remains a major part of his legacy. So perhaps it's no surprise that the Biden White House is choosing to use Obama to promote Obamacare as open enrollment sort of is continuing, as Americans sign up for plans on those exchanges. The deadline is approaching. And already they've seen 7.3 million Americans sign up for plans on the Obamacare exchanges. That is up significantly from last year, 34 percent in fact.

And I think it does show you that President Biden does want to make health care a central issue as he gears up for re-election, particularly after former President Trump vowed again to repeal and replace Obamacare.

And, you know, that remark from the former president did catch a lot of Democrats, including here at the White House, by surprise. One, because President Trump tried to repeal and replace Obamacare when he was in office and he was unsuccessful, but also because Obamacare is significantly popular. It is much more popular than I think it was at the beginning. And so a lot of Americans, I think, would be surprised to hear that Republicans are trying to replace it.

And so as President Biden gears up for re-election, it does give you an indication that he does want to make this a significant plank of his argument. And you have seen him, over the course of the last several weeks, talk about initiatives that would potentially strengthen the law, including trying to expand drug reduction prices and -- reduction in drug prices, but also talking about potentially reviving the idea of a public option. That's been something that's been bandied about among President Biden's aides as well. And so certainly, as President Biden looks to expand on the popularity of this law, you can expect that he will talk about it more and more and he will rely on his Democratic predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama, the law's namesake in some ways, to talk about it as well.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and you can be sure that they are happy for Donald Trump to talk about this as much as possible because of how popular, as you say, the data shows it is and continues to be.

LIPTAK: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Kevin, great reporting. Thanks for bringing it to us.

John.

[09:35:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the stock markets just opened. Take my word for it, they are up again after reaching record highs -- oh, OK, down now just slightly, but they reached highs yesterday, the day before. It's been on an incredible run, both the Dow and the S&P. The Nasdaq is up 40 percent for the year. The average 401(k) has increased nearly $13,000. AAA reports that gas prices fell again overnight to a national average of $3.09 a gallon. That's 10 cents less than a week ago, 35 cents less than a month ago. Mortgage rates just dropped, too.

With me now is CNN's Matt Egan and Washington correspondent for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" Tia Mitchell.

Matt, I just want to start with you because there's been this run on Wall Street where people's 401(k)s have just gone up and up and up, combined with gas prices going down. It's been this December of good economic news. MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, John, it really has been. I mean,

just in the last week, the Dow is up 1,000 points in a week, above 37,000 for the first time ever.

Now, we know the stock market is not the economy. Sometimes what's good for Wall Street is not good for main street. But I do think, in this case, it's all aligned. I think all of this should give us a lot of optimism about 2024.

I mean, think about it, this was supposed to be the year of recession. Instead, it's really been the year of resilience. We've got still historically low unemployment, GDP at 5 percent in the third quarter, 5 percent. The stock market, record highs. All of this is good news. And it's actually being fueled, of all places, by the Federal Reserve. I mean the Fed was kind of like The Grinch last year and much of this year, spiking interest rates, right, freaking out consumers and investors about recession. Now the Fed thinks that inflation has cooled off just enough that they may actually be able to start cutting interest rates as soon as March. And that's good news for Wall Street and main street.

BERMAN: And the mortgage rates, which were very high, stubbornly high in some ways, a dark sign while everything else has been good, mortgage rates are starting to tick down.

EGAN: Yes, John, seven weeks in a row of mortgage rates down, actually below 7 percent.

BERMAN: That's high.

EGAN: Now, they're not low. They're not low, right? If you remember, three years ago they were under 3 percent. We may never see that again. But starting to move in the right direction. Same thing on the rental side. We're actually starting to see asking rents fall year over year. That is a good sign.

So, the cost of living crisis may not be over, but it feels like it's getting a lot better, and that is, of course, encouraging.

BERMAN: All right, Tia, that's the economic side of it. What's the political side of all of this? How can the Biden White House use this in the Biden re-election campaign?

TINA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION": Well, what the Biden White House needs is for average voters to start feeling the pressure lifting. And it's going to take some time, but I think if people see their 401(k)s doing well, they see interest rates on mortgages going down, they see the gas prices going down. If particularly the grocery bill, they start seeing some relief there, I do think overall people will start having a greater perception that the economy is doing well and that will have some benefit for President Biden, but he's going to need people's feelings about the economy to change, not just the indicators.

BERMAN: I want to go back to what we saw before with former President Obama coming in with the current president, Joe Biden, talking about Obamacare. David Axelrod always gets mad at me for pointing this out, but, historically speaking, Barack Obama was very good at getting himself elected, but coattails not so much. When he went out and campaigned for other people, there wasn't necessarily the evidence that he was able to pull people along right now. The contrast between Obama and Biden, what's the risk/reward for Biden's re-election?

MITCHELL: Well, I don't think there's risk there. I think, you know, you can argue whether there's a whole lot of reward, whether Obama has tangible impact. There's an argument to be made there. But I don't think anyone is saying Obama is going to hurt a Democrat because he helps -- he remains very popular, especially among black voters. We know Democrats can't win without strong black turnout, without strong black support. And I think that's where Obama can be helpful.

And just the energy. You know, there's an energy kind of perception among Joe Biden that, you know, the President Trump calls him speedy Joe Biden, for example. So, anything you can do to get people fired up and ready to back the Biden ticket I think is helpful. I think that's where he hopes to lean on former President Obama throughout 2024.

BERMAN: All right, Tia Mitchell, Matt Egan, our thanks to both of you.

Sara.

[09:40:01]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Stark warning coming up. A dire warning from U.S. and European officials as funding for Ukraine remains stalled in Congress. One senior U.S. military official warning that without the crucial U.S. aid, quote, "they are certain to fail without us."

And, an increasing case of the flu and Covid has the CDC issuing a warning just before Christmas. Sorry about that.

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SIDNER: New this morning, a dire warning from U.S. and European officials as funding for Ukraine remains stalled in Congress, despite an in-person plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

[09:45:04]

One senior U.S. military official telling our Jim Sciutto, quote, "there is no guarantee of success with us, but they are certain to fail without us.

Our Jim Sciutto joining us now to share his new reporting with us this morning.

Jim, so many things in this. Even a timeline of a worst-case scenario for Ukraine. Extremely disturbing.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No question. I've been speaking to officials on both sides of the Atlantic, U.S., European officials, and the read is consistent. That is, without U.S. aid, it is really dire. It's already dire today, frankly, considering stalled progress in the counteroffensive, Russia ramping up its attacks on civilian infrastructure in the winter, but taking that rug out from under them in effect, U.S. aid, it really puts them in danger of losing the war, not just stopping its forward progress, but of losing the war. That's the concern here.

And they're talking, as you say, about a timeline where how long could they stand up without U.S. aid and the possibility of losing European aid as well? Perhaps months. A worst-case scenario of their defenses falling through by next summer. That's how bad it is and that's why there's an enormous focus right now, Sara, on getting that aid passed here in the U.S. with a concern about what happens here and what affect that has on European allies as well.

SIDNER: And when you talk about European allies, this morning we just heard Hungary blocked European aid for Ukraine, the package that they were trying to put forth. What can you tell us about that? I mean this is two fronts where both Europe and the U.S. failing Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen, the U.S. has been the leader here, but Europe gives an enormous amount of aid, both in terms of weapons, financial assistance, humanitarian assistance. And the concern had been that without U.S. leadership that then Europe follows. In fact, U.S. Congressman Mike Quigley, who's co-chair of the Ukraine Caucus in Congress, he said to me, "if we go south, our allies will, too."

And to your point, Sara, overnight we saw one possible indication of that, EU leaders meeting in Brussels. Yesterday they did vote to begin accession talks for Ukraine to enter the EU, but when it came to supplying further aid, they were not able to agree. And it was -- it was Hungary standing in the way. To be clear, those accession talks, those are going to take years. So that's a far off prospect. What Ukraine needs now, these officials say, is that military assistance. And for now they're not getting it from the U.S. or from Europe.

SIDNER: Jim Sciutto, you and I have both been on the front lines there watching how difficult each inch is, trying to regain territory.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SIDNER: Thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting.

SCIUTTO: My pleasure. Thanks a lot.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the home where four University of Idaho students were murdered is now set to be demolished. And what the attorneys for the accused murderer are doing inside the home until then.

And a new warning from the CDC, why they are begging Americans to get vaccinated now. The troubling data behind this new push.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:52:13]

SIDNER: The home where four University of Idaho students were killed last year will be demolished starting at the end of the month. Bryan Kohberger's defense team will be allowed to examine the house until the end of the day today. The trial date has not yet been set for Kohberger, who's accused of killing Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin in November of last year.

The British tabloids getting a slap down today. Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex, won $179,000 lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers. The U.K. high court found MGN guilty of extensive phone hacking against Harry from 2006 to 2011. Harry celebrated the victory by calling the win a great day for truth and accountability. A spokesperson for the publisher welcomed the judgment and said it, quote, "gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago."

And we're just learning of another runway close call. The time -- this time damaging the tail of a JetBlue aircraft. An NTSB report just released says it happened as the pilot was racing to avoid a head-on runway collision. As you can see in the video there behind me, yikes, the pilot quickly tipped the nose of the jet to take off, which hit the tail on the ground. It happened nearly two years ago when the JetBlue pilot did not see the smaller plane coming directly towards the aircraft, then had to move quickly when alerted by the flight crew. Despite the plane's damage, no passengers were injured in that near collision.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And thank goodness for that, right?

The CDC says there is an urgent need now to boost vaccination coverage as respiratory illnesses are spiking across the country. Hospitals are seeing a significant rise in people being hospitalized for flu, Covid and RSV, while vaccination rates for all three remain low.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's looking into this. He's joining us now.

Sanjay, the CDC sending out this call right now, an urgent need, they say. Where do the numbers stand on vaccination rates?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not great, Kate. I mean, you know, we -- we are sort of sleepwalking into respiratory virus season here. If you start by looking at flu overall, and I compare this to last year for you to give you some idea, vaccination rates for flu have never been great. Typically always below 50 percent for adults. But even lower this year, as you can see, sort of in the mid-30s for kids and for adults.

If you look at Covid, I sort of have made a graph for you that shows you since the beginning of vaccination what's happened with Covid. The red line was people who got the first shot, a lot. Blue line is people who then got the follow-up shots. [09:55:00]

But the bottom right corner there, that's the updated vaccine, Kate. And, you know, it's less than 20 percent have gotten that so far.

And then RSV, first time this has been a vaccine that's available. It's recommended for people 60 and older. And there again, Kate, you know, fewer than 16 percent of people have gotten that shot. So, you know, I think that's what's prompted the CDC to release this alert.

BOLDUAN: The vaccination rate on RSV, this one's really surprising to me, Sanjay, just because we know how bad RSV can be in older populations.

GUPTA: Right.

BOLDUAN: We often talk about it with infants. But in older populations, it's -- it's really, really dangerous. I mean how is this -- when you look at these numbers, how is this affecting how sick people are getting this season?

GUPTA: Yes. No. I mean let me show you all of them. And you're absolutely right about RSV. And, you know, this has been a real challenge to get a vaccine for RSV. Finally have one, but not that effective if people aren't using it. But here's hospitalization rates. Last month compared to this month, a 200 percent increase with flu, 51 percent with Covid and 60 percent increase with RSV.

Kate, it's not too late to still get vaccinated against these things. And there are people who are especially vulnerable people, because of their age or pre-existing conditions. And if you look at that entire group of people, it's close to 70 percent of the country in some way or another would be considered at higher risk.

BOLDUAN: And that's the big message here because some might think, if we have found ourselves in the middle of the season, what's the point, we've already missed the window. And that's the important message is, you have not missed the window to get vaccinated still.

GUPTA: That's right.

BOLDUAN: It's sadly a long season and very easy to get sick very quickly, especially as now we are heading right into the holidays.

It's great to see you, Sanjay. Thank you.

GUPTA: You too. Have a great weekend. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: You too. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, exclusive new reporting, what happened to highly classified intelligence that went missing in the final hours of the Trump administration?

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