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Supreme Court Meets Amid Ballot Challenges; Interview With Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su; Antony Blinken in Middle East. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 05, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:01:03]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Fighting for the Oval and the airwaves. President Biden kicking off his 2024 campaign with a major speech at a historical landmark in a key battleground state, as the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, makes a final push in Iowa days before the caucuses. We're tracking both.

Plus, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East again, as multiple flash points threaten to erupt into a regional conflict and as Israel reveals its next phase of the war against Hamas.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And before he opened fire, the Iowa school shooter is believed to have posted a video on TikTok from a school bathroom. New details about the deadly shooting and the heroic actions of the principal.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Here in minutes, President Biden will be arriving in Pennsylvania one day before the third anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol to kick off the 2024 campaign year with his pitch that this election is fundamentally about defending democracy, the backdrop, Valley Forge, the legendary winter encampment of the Continental Army, where General George Washington built his troops into a cohesive force during the Revolutionary War.

Biden's speech is part of an aggressive push by his campaign to frame 2024 as another opportunity for voters to protect the Constitution from the threats of a second Trump term. The president also out with a new digital campaign ad, where he calls in his biggest ally to help deliver his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our democracy depends on you.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It really does, folks. That's no joke.

OBAMA: That's why we need you. We need your help to ensure Joe's leadership continues to guide us forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Donald Trump's camp is also eying that 2020 rematch, even though the Republican primary hasn't even started yet.

With 10 days until the Iowa caucuses. Trump is contrasting his economic platform with Biden's in a new ad, as Biden's economic message struggles to resonate with Americans. That's despite another batch of strong jobs numbers today. We're actually going to speak to the acting labor secretary about those numbers and whether this will bolster the case for Bidenomics.

But, first, let's get you to the White House and CNN's M.J. Lee.

So, M.J., what are we anticipating will come from Biden's speech?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, this afternoon is going to mark President Biden's first campaign speech of the new election year.

And this is really the Biden campaign setting the stage for what they expect to see as the choice that they're being presented with and the voters are being presented with in the 2024 presidential election. And that choice, according to the Biden campaign, is between preserving democracy and these freedoms that are fundamental and sacred, they say, to this country versus a party and a candidate that would let those freedoms and that democracy erode.

And there's really nothing subtle about this afternoon and what we are about to see from the Biden campaign, I mean, first of all, the timing and the date. Of course, tomorrow is January 6. It is the third anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

This is an event that we have heard President Biden talk about numerous times as representing an event that was so unacceptable, including the fact that there was a president and a presidential candidate now who has essentially condoned and encouraged that kind of political violence, and then just the choice of this venue and this place.

Obviously, Pennsylvania, it goes without saying, is an important battleground state. But, Brianna, as you mentioned, Valley Forge is this historically important place, where people will remember sort of that image of George Washington leading his troops through this long winter battle.

[13:05:05]

And we are told that President Biden is going to invoke George Washington and that fight, that cause in a number of different ways in this speech and basically draw parallels between what we saw there versus what the Biden campaign believes and the president believes is a charge that he is trying to lead in 2024 as he prepares to take on Donald Trump. Now, in terms of the Biden campaign and the fact that we are now in

January of 2024, we are told by the campaign that this really is the beginning of the campaign really starting to ramp up. We will see President Biden on Monday in South Carolina. He is going to be speaking at Mother Emanuel Church.

This, of course, is where we saw the mass shooting where nine black worshipers were killed in that shooting. This will mark the president returning to a state that the Biden White House believes sent him to the White House, returning to voters, black voters, in particular, that the Biden campaign talks about as having also sent him to the White House.

So, in so many different ways, this afternoon will be very heavy on political symbolism and, again, will really mark the beginning of what we will see to come in the coming year as the Biden campaign really prepares to take on Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: M.J. Lee live from the White House, thank you so much.

KEILAR: Meanwhile, as a positive new jobs report came in today, the president is hoping he can tout an improving economy in his reelection bid.

The last jobs report of 2023 has employers adding 216,000 jobs in December, outpacing analysts' expectations by more than 50,000. Biden saying it showed 2023 was a great year for American workers, the unemployment rate remaining at 3.7 percent.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen highlighting that it's rare for jobs to stay robust while inflation is going down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We have 23 months in a row unemployment under 40 percent. Haven't seen that in 50 years.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: So, the soft landing, did it happen?

YELLEN: What we're seeing now, I think we can describe as a soft landing. And my hope is that it will continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Wall Street, though, has been waffling a bit on how to react here, because it signals the Fed could wait to drop interest rates with such high jobs numbers.

Joining us now, we have acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.

Secretary, thank you so much for taking some time to be with us.

What is the most promising thing in the jobs report and is there anything in it that is concerning you?

JULIE SU, ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR: Hi, Brianna. It's great to be here.

This is, as you said, a strong, it's a very stable jobs report, 216,000 jobs added in December, making the average over all of 2023 225,000 jobs. That is higher than at any point in any single year in the prior administration. And it is a -- it's a sign that that coveted soft landing, we have reached it, right?

We had very strong recovery from the pandemic, and now we have had a strong, solid 2023. These things don't happen by accident. They happen because of strong leadership. They happen because of economic policies, and they happen because President Biden has been very clear that we're going to build an economy where we do right by workers.

That's how to make things better. That's how to make things stronger. We can keep unemployment rate low while we increase real wages, while we continue to increase jobs. And that's going to be the message for 2024, is to keep on doing that.

KEILAR: Yesterday, the Fed pushed back on early rate cuts this year, which were expected by many in March.

Once seasonal employment ends, is the labor market going to be strong enough to withstand a more prolonged period of higher interest rates, do you think?

SU: Well, so, interestingly, we didn't see the volatility that often is associated with seasonal numbers.

And, again, because we now have a full year's report, we can really look at not just December, which was strong, but a whole year in which the jobs numbers defied expectations over and over again. And many people predicted that we could not both control inflation while keeping jobs high.

And that is exactly what we have accomplished. And that is what the president wakes up every morning thinking about, is, how do we make life better for the American people? How do we create good jobs in every single community, so people don't have to leave their homes in order to find work that's going to bring them into the middle class?

And so this is a yearlong, sustained, and steady record that many people thought was not going to be possible. And we're going to keep that up for the rest of this year.

KEILAR: So many people curious, of course, what the Fed is going to do as they look at perhaps buying a home or getting a car, they need a car loan. They're looking at their credit card interest rates.

[13:10:03]

The key indicator that the Fed considers for inflation, what is known as core PCE, is still at 3.2 percent year over year at last measure. The Fed target is 2 percent. In your view, is that low enough for the Fed to ease off of interest rates? Should they still be aiming for that 2 percent?

SU: Right. So let's just dive into that little bit.

I mean, I'm not going to comment on what the Fed does, but I will say that we have seen very strong GDP growth too, right? Productivity is above 5 percent. So that means that the inflation rate, right, combined with wage growth, there is some room for workers to keep doing better without having inflationary pressure.

And, again, that is very core to the president's message and his economic agenda, that we don't have to sacrifice worker well-being when we strengthen the economy. In fact, those two things actually go hand in hand. And we saw that throughout the year, not just in terms of the jobs numbers we talk about, but also in terms of the record gains that workers made at the bargaining table, the broad-based jobs creation across multiple industries.

And, again, we are still just getting started, right? 2024 is going to be a big year for those historic investments to actually hit the ground, to have projects actually beginning, and to have even more jobs across construction, manufacturing, clean energy, and other industries that we're really focused on growing here in America.

KEILAR: I do want to ask you about Texas Governor Greg Abbott and really some of the solution prescriptions that some Democrats are looking for.

He's been busing and flying migrants to Democratic-run cities, as you're well aware. We have spoken to a number of leaders in these cities who are upset with him, yes, but they also are upset with the Biden administration as they're looking for help with this influx of migrants.

Here's what Democratic leaders in Chicago and New York told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN HOPKINS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ALDERMAN: Many of the migrants that are here, they plan to stay here. They'd like to have permanent housing. They need to support themselves. They need the ability to get temporary work visas.

That's something that the federal government has to get out of the way for the people that are here.

MARK LEVINE, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, BOROUGH PRESIDENT: We need more work permits for the migrants. I talk to so many of them, and the first question I'm asked invariably is, how can I work?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Are you going to be able to increase your expedite work permits? Is that on the table in these ongoing border and immigration talks?

SU: Yes, so the president has also been very clear that we need comprehensive immigration reform. We need a humane immigration policy that is going to also serve not just the economy, but actually working people.

We have been in a very tight labor market for some time, and that is by design, right? A tight labor market is good for workers. It increases worker power. It's what has helped result in these wage increases and other improvements to working conditions, better retirement security, better health and safety protections, and the like.

And so I think the president has called for Congress to address the immigration issue, has also called for more funding so that there can be a strong policy at the border. But what we have certainly see -- seen is, throughout the economy, right, immigration is one reason why the economy is strong and that workers....

KEILAR: Can you speak specifically, Secretary, on this issue of work permits, increasing or expediting them? I only -- I just want to ask because I have a limited amount of time.

SU: Yes, so we have done that.

We have seen this. When workers are eligible for work permits, they should get them. And part of delivering for the American people is make sure that those basic services, right, are provided. And I hear all the time from employers who say they're looking for workers, they need workers.

And we -- our whole agenda is about making sure that people who want jobs can actually get those jobs, connecting them, work permits, as part of that, but also good training programs, apprenticeships. And all of that is part of a bigger picture...

(CROSSTALK)

SU: ... working people to do well.

KEILAR: But Democratic cities, Secretary, say they're not eligible and that's the problem.

So it's not an issue of they're eligible. And they're saying they want them to be eligible for it, so that they can then get an expedited work permit. Is that on the table?

SU: Yes, I mean, that is, that's where Congress comes in. That is where comprehensive immigration reform that recognizes the needs of the labor market and provides legal pathways and a smart policy for how we deal with issues at the border have to come in.

And the president has been very clear and working with congressional Democrats to try to make that happen. But it's not something that we can do on our own. It does require Congress to move.

KEILAR: Comprehensive immigration reform obviously difficult to impossible, more likely impossible, in a divided Congress, as we all know right now.

Just this specific issue of eligibility, is that on the table, not as part of comprehensive, but just as these negotiations that are going on about border security and other aid that Congress is discussing?

[13:15:08]

SU: I mean, we have said and Bidenomics is about, using every tool that we have power over to make sure that we are creating good jobs and putting people into those good jobs.

To the extent that there's more that we can do in that area, a lot of it is about connecting people to training programs and making sure that those who are eligible to work get the tools that they need to do that work. But there's a -- much of this has to happen through actions that Congress has to take, and we are always ready and willing to partner with them to try to make that happen.

But you're right. This is a divided time. And so that's why we're focused on the levers that we have, which is about investments. It's about construction jobs, manufacturing jobs, creating jobs for people who don't have a college degree and doing everything we can to connect those people to help rebuild America and make every corner of America really strong with people who have economic security.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a, -- look, it's a tough situation. It does not seem like those Democrats may be having their requests answered anytime soon.

But, Secretary Su, I certainly appreciate you being with us. Thank you.

SU: Thank you.

KEILAR: And at any moment, America's High Court could decide if it will weigh in on whether Donald Trump should be allowed to run for president again.

The justices meeting today for the first time since Trump asked them to overturn the historic Colorado Supreme Court ruling that kicked him off the state's primary ballot under the 14th Amendment's Insurrectionist Clause.

SANCHEZ: And, look, the clock is ticking. Colorado election officials are facing a deadline of today to certify their candidates, the primary itself, of course, two months away on March 5, Super Tuesday.

The Colorado secretary of state has said that Trump is going to be on the ballot unless the court acts in some way. Trump's legal team says it is now confident the justices will rule in his favor. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them. People like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place, he will step up. Those people will step up, not because they're pro-Trump, but because they're pro- law. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by CNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic.

Joan, great to see you.

What can you tell us about today's meetings?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: First of all, nothing is a slam dunk.

(LAUGHTER)

BISKUPIC: But about today, I was up at the court this morning when the justices took the bench for the first time since -- in the new year and as they were then going to go into their private meeting.

They handled some routine business first. And then, later, they went in and they looked at various pending cases, including this one, the one involving Donald Trump and whether he should be kicked off of the ballots because of January 6 attack at the Capitol.

Now, they have several things to iron out here. There's several questions that we can get into in a second about the issues, but they -- as you said, the clock is ticking. And what they need to do is decide what issues to take up, what kind of briefing schedule they would have and when oral arguments would be held. And there's pressure from the groups involved. Donald Trump says that he would like this decided promptly.

The Colorado voters who started all this have asked, can it be decided by February 11, which is the day before ballots are mailed out in Colorado for the end result being the Super Tuesday, March 4, when they have to be submitted? But there are some other 15 states that will be holding primaries that day.

So you can see how crunched this is. And they can't just take the bench or meet in conference and decide this. They need to get formal briefing in here from a multitude of parties on this very unprecedented question of whether a president can be kept off the ballot. '

KEILAR: Yes, it's not exactly a very fast thing here, as we know.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Joan Biskupic, thank you so much for that.

SANCHEZ: No slam-dunks, Joan.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

So, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is arriving in the Middle East as tensions are reaching new heights in the region. We will tell you what he hopes to accomplish on this trip.

KEILAR: Plus, a new batch of documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein now out, and one detective describes recruitment of dozens of girls for the convicted pedophile. We will have details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:09]

SANCHEZ: Right now, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is in Turkey, his first stop in a weeklong diplomatic push in the Middle East.

Blinken's visit comes amid growing concerns that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza may broaden even further. And Lebanon, the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, is speaking out today warning that people in Northern Israel will be the first to suffer if this war expands.

KEILAR: Overnight, the IDF says it struck more than 100 targets across Gaza. Officials said they were targeting operational command centers and military sites.

With us now, we have CNN chief national security -- Alex Marquardt, and we also have CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, starting with you here, the Israeli defense minister has laid out a plan for the next phase of this military operation in Gaza and a plan for when the war eventually ends. Tell us what he's saying.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right.

He's looking at the phase three and phase four of the war. Phase three would be the next phase of the war, which he envisions us being split up between Northern Gaza, where the Israeli military has really carried out the bulk of its operations in the initial weeks of the war and where they have largely routed Hamas, although several key strongholds still remain.

And so, in this next phase of the war, he envisions that, in the north, there will be a focus on special operations raids, on destroying Hamas tunnels and the final remaining strongholds in that area, whereas, in the south, he doesn't really talk about any kind of change in combat operations, but rather saying that, in the south, that they will pursue Hamas leaders for as long as necessary and also work to try and secure the release of the hostages.

But what's really interesting is what he writes here in terms of phase four of the war, which he says would only come once Israel achieves its objectives of the war, which, of course, have been laid out by the Israeli prime minister as destroying Hamas and also securing the release of the hostages.

[13:25:05]

And in this phase, he says, critically, that he does not envision a return of Israeli civilians, no Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, which is something that several right-wing members of this government have indeed suggested in the past.

And he also says that there would be a multinational task force led by the United States, in partnership with European officials, as well as Egypt, which he outlines as a key partner, to work on rebuilding Gaza. And so there is certainly some thought being given to not only the next stages of this war, but also, critically, to what happens after.

What is clear, though, is that there is no formal consensus on these matters as of yet. We know that there is still significant debate. In fact, just yesterday, a security cabinet meeting turned nasty, as there were shouting -- there was shouting. There were accusations leveled at the Israeli military's chief of staff and significant disagreements over the next phases of the war and also, of course, what happens after the war is over.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond live for us from Tel Aviv.

Alex, walk us through the goals for Secretary Blinken on this trip.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is a wide-ranging trip, nine different stops. This is his fourth trip to the region.

I think there are two main goals, to prevent the war from widening out beyond Israel and Gaza, and then pressuring Israel. Jeremy was just talking about the next phases of the war. One of the main things that the U.S. has been trying to do is try to figure out and pressure Israel into going into that next phase from what we have been calling this higher-intensity phase that we have seen over the past few months to a much more targeted, lower-intensity phase that will do less harm to civilians.

We will also hear Secretary Blinken talk again about the need for Israel to do more to protect civilians, that civilian death toll going higher and higher really by the hour. I mean, we're talking about more than 22,000 people who've been killed in Gaza so far.

And then the humanitarian aid that the U.S. has not enough has gotten -- not enough has gotten in. And a lot of that is because of the continued fighting. And so we will hear things we have heard in the past. And it's clear that the U.S. feels Israel has not made enough progress. And they want to see progress there.

At the same time, they don't want to be seen as telling Israel what to do. And then Blinken's going to be all over the rest of the Middle East, talking about the other flare-ups that we have seen. And when you look at those, whether it's the Houthis in Yemen or Hezbollah in Lebanon or the proxy groups in Iraq and Syria, what do they all have in common? They're all backed by Iran.

And so Blinken is going to be enlisting other world leaders, other countries to be intermediaries with Iran, essentially telling them to knock it off and not expand this conflict. KEILAR: The State Department is also now offering a financial

incentive for disrupting Hamas' financial networks. Tell us about this.

MARQUARDT: Yes, this is really interesting.

Essentially, it's another way of trying to take apart Hamas, which, of course, Israel is trying to do militarily with American support. So this is a 10 million dollar reward from a State Department program called Rewards for Justice. Normally, we see rewards for wanted terrorists around the world.

This is for information about Hamas' financials and, in particular, five financial facilitators. They name five individuals. One is based in Sudan. The other four are believed to be based in Turkey. They have all kinds of roles in terms of helping Hamas make money and manage their investment portfolios.

On this notice we saw today, they -- the State Department puts an American phone number on there, saying, if you have information, call us text us. We have seen this -- this program mentioned recently in the context of the Hamas official who was killed in Lebanon, Saleh al- Arouri. He had a $5 million bounty on his head.

This is $10 million for information about these financiers. And it comes after the U.S. Treasury Department has already imposed sanctions on all kinds of Hamas operators and officials, economic sanctions, to try to hit them where it hurts economically.

KEILAR: It's so interesting. We will have to see if it works.

Alex, thank you for that.

A school shooting in Iowa leaving a sixth grader dead and several other people wounded, including the principal.

Next, what we know about the victims' conditions and how this attack unfolded.

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