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Average Price of Petrol is Less Than $3 in Some States, According to AAA; To Allocate Funds for Ukraine, Schumer Pushes for Border Agreement; Interview with Co-Founder of "Punchbowl News" John Bresnahan; Senate Postpones Vacation to Continue Working on Ukraine and Border Security Agreement while House Adjourns; Rare Public Appearance by Former First Lady Melania Trump; After Reportedly Threatening to Decapitate a Student, a Teacher was Arrested; More Illnesses Linked to Lead in Applesauce. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 15, 2023 - 10:30:00   ET

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

[10:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: So, how's this to get your motor running? I feel like that's a little suggestive. Gas prices or below $3 a gallon in more than two dozen states right now. AAA reports the national average fell overnight to $3.09 a gallon, that's a 35 cent drop from a month ago. Just one part of the economy that seems to be strengthening right now. The stock markets have been near record highs.

With me now, CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten. So, all this positive economic data that's coming in, surely, you're going to tell me that Americans see this and process it right away.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATE REPORTER: Of course, John, given that intro. You know, when judging the United States economy, what do Americans look at? Overwhelmingly, look at this, 85 percent say their own experiences. You know, you speak about that national data, the GDP, maybe the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, just 66 percent.

How about those stocks that you mentioned? Just 42 percent of Americans look to stock market indexes when judging how folks think the economy is going. And this, I think, is the key nugget here. Think your income is keeping up with inflation, just 24 percent of Americans say, yes. The vast majority, 76 percent, said no in a recent since CBS News poll.

BERMAN: Are they right?

ENTEN: Are they right? This, I think, is the key question. Income has got to be probably the worst of all the metrics when judging how the economy is going. Take a look here, the change in disposable income from a present -- from the first year of a president's term to now in a term. Look at Biden, negative growth. Negative. We've actually seen incomes come down relative to inflation, minus 2.7 percent. The average president since JFK look at that, a big jump of 4.5 percent in their income. Now, obviously, there was a lot going on in that first year, right? We were pumping money into the economy, the government was. But how about in the last few months, take a look at the last six months, the change in disposable income. Just we see growth, but it's very small growth, just 0.2 percent. The average six months since 1960, look at that, much higher, five times as high.

So, even now, even as incomes are going up a little bit, they're still not getting anywhere near the type of growth we generally get.

BERMAN: Yes, again, they turned around, and they're heading in the right direction, just not as quickly perhaps as some people are expecting. What else, Harry?

ENTEN: Yes, what else? I think the other thing that's just been going on over the last few decades is just the medium weekly wages and salaries. Since pre-pandemic, down one percent. Since the first year of Biden's first term, look at this, down one percent. Since last quarter, no growth at all, zero percent.

Now, this is metric that really hasn't moved and has had struggling moving over the last few decades. But the fact is when you combine that with incomes, not growing at the rate we're generally used, I think that's a big part of the reason why Americans are not feeling the growth that I think a lot of economists would think they should.

BERMAN: But this -- from this, is an improvement if it keeps on heading in a direction whether they feel it or not, who knows?

ENTEN: Yes, we'll just have to wait and see. But at this point, you know, economists are saying one thing, Americans are saying another, and I think the incomes are a big reason why Americans are just not feeling the ump (ph) that I think a lot of economists think they should be feeling.

BERMAN: Harry Enten with an encore performance. Thank you --

ENTEN: Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: -- very much. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Berman and Enten, a winning combination, I think.

All right. This morning, the Senate is delaying its holiday recess to stay in Washington D.C. and work out a deal on immigration and aid to Ukraine and Israel. Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, vowing to take up a vote next week, "No matter what." But some lawmakers are skeptical it can be done in such a short period of time now.

[10:35:00]

CNN's Lauren Fox is joining us now from Capitol Hill. I mean, is it possible for Congress to get this done next week?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have a lot of questions, right, as to whether or not a hard-fought deal on immigration can actually come together in the next several days. Republicans are extremely skeptical that that is going to be possible in this moment.

First, they would have to get some kind of agreement in principle, then they would have to turn that agreement into a legislative text, that takes time. And there's the huge question of whether or not the House of Representatives would even come back if the Senate actually got to an agreement. Here's what one of the lead Senate negotiators, Kyrsten Sinema, told me yesterday about Mike Johnson and whether or not he's made any assurances.

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SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-AZ): James, myself, and others have all been communicating with Speaker Johnson. I've got a great relationship with him, like him a whole lot. And I know that he is working through a lot of challenges of his own right now, and we'll be ready for this challenge when the Senate is ready to send him something.

FOX: But has he given any assurances, he put it on the floor?

SINEMA: Well, I'm not going to share any information on private communications with you. I know that's no surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And politically, this is a difficult moment for both Republicans and Democrats, in part, because the base on both sides may not be happy with an agreement that comes together here in the next several days if one can even be found. But it just shows you that any agreement on immigration, any agreement on the southern border is going to have to come in the middle. And there's just no guarantee that they're going to get there despite the fact negotiators are expected to just start meeting today into the weekend and see if they're going to be able to find some kind of middle ground. Sara.

SIDNER: And the fact that President Biden is signaling that he is willing to make some major concessions. We will see, Lauren Fox. Thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: We will see, that is literally the only thing that we can be certain of, is that we don't know now and maybe we'll know.

I told -- joining me now for someone to bring us some insight, co- founder of "Punchbowl News", John Bresnahan. It's good to see you, Bres. OK. Can you gut check me on some of this? Do you think another week could get the Senate there?

JOHN BRESNAHAN, CO-FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: I don't know. I mean, it's tough. I think it's -- I think they really have to thread the needle here. Now, they're talking this morning, we heard that Homeland Secretary Mayorkas and some White House officials are meeting with senators today. The senators involved in the talks since -- the leadership and some of the senators on both sides of the aisle. They've started -- they've had some meetings today already. But I don't know if they can get there. They're -- like, every time if they give to something to the Republicans, the -- you know, progressives get upset.

If they give -- you know, if they lean too more -- too far for toward the progressives, you know, the Republicans would get upset. I think it's a very, very difficult thing they're trying to do. This is why immigration hasn't -- we haven't -- this is why immigration is so messed up because there's the political compromises here are so hard to reach.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. You have a problem -- you have problem enough if we just focus in on the Senate -- of Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans coming together around an immigration bill, that's a huge ask in and of itself. But doesn't it also seem like it's even hard for Senate Republicans and House Republicans to get on the same page here?

BRESNAHAN: Oh, yes. I mean, they're not on the same page on spending, you know, it was for government spending. This is an even more dicey issue. This is a more culturally dicey issue. And let's not forget, let's factor in Trump here and the presidential primary. They're going to start -- Republican voters are going to start voting in the primaries in the caucus, Iowa caucus January 15th. New Hampshire primary is January 23rd.

Let's for, argument's sake, let's say they get -- the Senate gets a deal with the White House. You know, by the time Congress gets, you know, really working on this it'll be January. Trump, if he is the nominee and he looks like he's going to be right now, he's going to have an opinion on this. You know, there's -- this will be directly involved in Republican presidential politics.

There's no one -- I'll say -- I'll caution this, there's no way that Senate Republicans are going to walk out on a ledge, on a deal that they know -- that they don't know where speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans are going to be or Trump. This is just -- there's no way they're going to do it. They want to win their majority in 2024. They have a good chance to do it. I just think the politics for them are just super dicey.

BOLDUAN: So -- I don't know if this is a counterpoint or just, like, another factor in this, but I'm - I was thinking about the NDA -- the NDAA, the massive defense policy bill, and how that kind of shook out. And wondering if that could be something of a model here, Bres. You know, months of negotiating, extreme left and extreme right, kind of, holding very different demands. Generally speaking, the middle-ish prevailed in the end, and it passed.

[10:40:00]

Can that happen here, or is the X factor which makes this so different that we're talking about? Immigration, which is, you've already noted, just politically so hard. BRESNAHAN: Well, I mean -- look, the -- I don't know if that is a good model. They've done the defense authorization bill every year since 1961. So, they're used to doing this. The committees in the House and Senate, the Armed Services Committees, they have a constituency in there that will do this, you know, every year and they have a kind of a core, the defense hawks in the -- on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans.

So, there's a base for them to build on. I'm not sure I see that here. You are kind of having a top-down deal that's being done. You also have to throw in the Ukraine angle in here. I mean, this is the reason the White House is doing this, Biden is even talking is to unlock billions of dollars in new aid for Ukraine, and that's increasingly unpopular with Republicans.

So, I mean, if they were to make concessions on immigration that they may not necessarily love, and then you have Ukraine money on it on top of that, I mean, I just have a hard time seeing the hard right, the hardliners in the Republican Party, the loudest part of the party making concessions here and going along with anything.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, let's stand by to stand by is to see what, if anything, they can accomplish in this extra week that Schumer says that they're going to be sticking around. It's great to see you, John. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right. Just in, a rare public appearance by former first lady Melania Trump. You just missed her. That's her walking out that door right there. She literally just left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So rare --

BERMAN: So rare, she's gone already. The location of it all, though, was seconds ago notable. CNN's Kristen Holmes following this for us. So, where was she and what was she doing?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is actually an uncharacteristically personal speech from the former first lady. We never see her. And I've been covering Donald Trump now in this entire campaign. She's only been out once with him and it was when he made his announcement. She's often behind closed doors. And she talked about her immigration process and her path to becoming a naturalized citizen. Take a listen to some of what she said.

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MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Throughout our lives, we cross thresholds. And although obstacles often stand in the way of our goals, we persevere, as we understand that conquering them will provide great access to personal development, fulfillment and eventually self-actualization.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: There was also something else she said that I found to be remarkable, and this was it. She said, my personal experience of traversing the challenges of the immigration process opened my eyes to the harsh realities people face, including you for trying to become a U.S. citizen. And then of course, there are the nuances of understanding United States immigration laws.

The reason why this is so remarkable is because it comes at a time that former President Trump is pledging, that if reelected, he would make that process even harder. And you could actually hear her walk through all of the hoops that she had to jump through and how she was lucky in certain circumstances to become a naturalized citizen.

So, it almost appears in juxtaposition to what her husband has been saying out on the campaign trail. I will note again, as you mentioned, the National Archives does have significance here as well. Part of the reason that Donald Trump has been indicted stemmed from the National Archives who asked the Department of Justice to open investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office. That subsequently led to an indictment of Donald Trump. We expect that trial to likely be in May.

But again, this was a pretty unique experience here and listening to her when you see him on the campaign trail, that was striking.

BERMAN: Yes, juxtapositions galore, one might say. Kristen Holmes. thank you very much.

Sara?

SIDNER: Still to come, a stunning incident in Central Georgia. A middle school teacher is accused of threatening to behead a Muslim student, who said she was offended by his Israeli flag. That's coming up.

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[10:45:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a teacher in Georgia is facing charges after allegedly threatening to behead a student. Multiple witnesses told authorities that Benjamin Reese threatened a 13-year- old Muslim student who said she was offended by an Israeli flag hanging in the classroom.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher with us now. OK. Walk us through what happened here.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and what we're going to talk about, John, is just a small sample of the violent and profane threats that multiple staff and faculty members say they and their students heard a teacher shouting at three young girls in the hallway of their middle school last week.

51-year-old Benjamin Reese, he is a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Warner Robins Middle School. He was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats and cruelty to children in the third degree. Now, he's bonded out of jail, but we haven't been able to determine if he has an attorney to make any comment on his behalf. But there is a very detailed incident report from a Houston County Sheriff's deputy who was on duty at the school at the time.

[10:50:00]

Where multiple adults and several students who were in earshot of this say they heard Reese shouting profane and threatening remarks at three young girls in the hallway. I can't go into all of them, but I will say some of them included, "She is a stupid mother -- and I will drag her by the back of my car and cut her effing head off for disrespecting my Jewish flag." They also said he talked about slitting her throat and kicking her ass.

Now, according to this incident report, which interviewed both -- all three of those little girls, one of them, a 13-year-old Muslim girl who the Council on American Islamic relations, Georgia chapter, tells me is half-Palestinian. She said that she spoke with Reese, said she found the flag offensive, and said that that's when he began calling her antisemitic and began chasing them out of the classroom, following them and yelling at them, those threats.

Now, the Houston County School District says that he has not been back on campus since the incident on December 7th, and says that the safety as the top priority of their students there inside that school district.

BERMAN: All right. These are extremely troubling allegations. Dianne Gallagher, keep us posted on all of this. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, lead in cinnamon applesauce pouches has made dozens of children sick. Why an FDA official now says it may have been an intentional act. We'll be right back.

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[10:55:00]

SIDNER: The lead contamination that's been detected in some CN -- cinnamon applesauce pouches may have been put there intentionally, that's according to an FDA official who was interviewed in a new report from "Politico." That applesauce has sickened dozens of young children.

CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard is joining us with more on this. This is disturbing. How does this change the FDA's investigation into this lead contamination that was in these applesauce pouches?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes. Well, if the FDA can confirm this was an intentional act, that would definitely escalate things. What we do know from an exclusive interview in "Politico", FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, Jim Jones, said this, "We're still in the midst of our investigation. But so far, all of the signals we're getting lead to an intentional act on the part of someone in the supply chain. And we're trying to sort of figure that out."

We also know that the FDA is conducting an onsite inspection at a facility located in Ecuador. But the reason why someone might intentionally contaminate these applesauce pouches, we do know sometimes these products are sold by weight, adding metal can make them heavier. So far, as of this week, the FDA says it has received at least 65 reports of adverse events linked to these contaminated products. All of the reports sadly have been in children. So, this is something to watch very closely, Sara.

SIDNER: Certainly, parents will need to be paying close attention to this. I also just want to say it's nice to see that there's a commissioner for human foods. Didn't know that until today, Jacqueline Howard. Thank you so much.

HOWARD: Absolutely.

SIDNER: All right. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us. The mysterious case of the missing binder containing highly classified intelligence on Russia. The last time it was seen and the theories of where it all could be now, years later, CNN exclusive coming up.

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