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Interview with Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY): U.S.-Mexico Border Security Legislation; U.K. Warship Helped U.S. Defend Red Sea Against Houthi Onslaught; Pat McAfee: Aaron Rodgers Won't Appear on Show for Rest of Season; Search Underway Following Avalanche at Lake Tahoe Ski Resort. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired January 10, 2024 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And then does not increase any funding for that. It goes back to --
REP. ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO (R-NY): It has been 220 days --
KEILAR: I'm sorry.
D'ESPOSITO: It has been 220 days since Chuck Schumer has received the Secure the Border Act from House Republicans. 220 days and only until recently has he decided to have conversations or negotiate.
KEILAR: You said you wanted to talk about your legislation. I'm talking about your legislation. This is legislation that doesn't really make sense. I mean, your policy proposals in it are not backed up by any sort of funding that would actually pay for what you're calling to do. You want to allow children to go from being detained from three days to allowing it to be 30 days in adult detention facility.
D'ESPOSITO: What we want to do is begin to secure our border, which is clear that the Biden administration and the Democrats have failed to do.
KEILAR: But those are clear non-starters.
D'ESPOSITO: We are -- we are setting records.
KEILAR: You have a White House that is --
(CROSSTALK)
D'ESPOSITO: We are setting records where numbers are coming across our southern border that we've never seen before.
KEILAR: Sure.
D'ESPOSITO: There have been arguments that there's an immigration issue for the last 50 years. Absolutely, there has. But since Joe Biden has taken office, we have seen record numbers of people come across the southern border. We have seen Customs and Border Patrol agents who have flat out said that we do not have operational control of our southern border, that in fact, cartels have operational control of our southern border.
KEILAR: And you are not proposing to give them any more resources at legal points of entry.
(CROSSTALK)
D'ESPOSITO: Well, we are. There absolutely were resources in the Secure the Border Act.
KEILAR: Congressman, you have a White House that is in a very -- a Democratic White House that is in an unusual situation of actually being ready to negotiate, to change drastically.
D'ESPOSITO: Being ready to negotiate. It's been 220 days.
KEILAR: May I please finish my sentence.
It's been 220 days.
KEILAR: May I finish my sentence?
D'ESPOSITO: Joe Biden has been asleep.
KEILAR: Congressman, may I finish my sentence?
D'ESPOSITO: Sure.
KEILAR: They are in an unusual place. And this is objective of talking about changing asylum. That just doesn't really happen. And that is not what you were talking about pursuing. You are a legislator and you could pursue legislation and take advantage of that opportunity. Why not?
D'ESPOSITO: I'm not saying that we shouldn't. But what I'm saying is that it's been 220 days and only until recently has the White House decided to have any negotiation. So, we've been doing our job. We sent a bill over to the Senate that, you know, what could begin those conversations could begin the negotiations.
And only until recently, and I would have to argue that it's only because the White House is playing politics, because they see that their poll numbers are in the dumpster. And they know that the election is less than 10 months or 11 months away. And now they want to see movement at the southern border. That's why they're making moves.
The House Republicans have been doing the job that they're supposed to do. We said that we were going to secure our border. We said that we were going to hold those accountable that are making our country less safe. And that's exactly what we're doing.
KEILAR: Sounds like you have a situation you could take advantage of there. Congressman Anthony D'Esposito, thank you so much for being with us.
D'ESPOSITO: Thank you. Have a good one.
KEILAR: We'll be right back.
[15:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: This just in. The Pentagon just gave an update on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's condition following his recent secretive hospitalization after surgery for prostate cancer. The Secretary remains hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center. He is said to be in good condition.
The Pentagon says he's working and has, quote, full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor DOD's day- to-day operations worldwide.
A specific date for his release from the hospital has not been given.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, the White House is saying that Houthi rebels are going to, quote, bear the consequences for attacks in the Red Sea. The warning comes one day after what the Secretary of State calls the biggest attack yet on shipping in that region.
These images from the British Ministry of Defense, which U.K. officials said, deployed a warship to assist the U.S. The Pentagon says the U.S. Navy shot down a barrage of weaponry launched by the Houthis from Yemen, including 18 one-way attack drones, two anti- cruise ship missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile.
CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now live from the Pentagon. Natasha, the Houthis confirmed today why they launched what they called a coordinated offensive. What did they say?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Boris, the Houthis said that this was in retaliation for the U.S. military sinking three Houthi boats on New Year's Eve and killing all of the Houthi militants on board. Of course, the U.S. military opened fire on those Houthis because they were attempting to board and seize control of a commercial vessel in the Red Sea.
So, you kind of see this process of escalation playing out now where the Houthis say that they are now retaliating against actions carried out by the U.S., which in turn is retaliating against the missile and drone attacks being carried out by the Houthis out of Yemen.
So now we are seeing, of course, a big international response, particularly being led by the United States, saying that the Houthis are going to bear responsibility and the full consequences for this massive barrage of missile and drone attacks, one of the largest that we have seen against Red Sea targets since these attacks began.
Here's what National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said about it this afternoon. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: The goal here isn't to contain the Houthis. Just to be clear, we don't want to see these attacks on commercial shipping and we're going to do what we have to do to counter and defend against those attacks.
[15:40:00]
And as I said earlier, the Houthi, they've made certain decisions up to this time. They have to make certain decisions going forward. And we'll see what decisions they make. They will bear the consequences for those decisions going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND: A number of different parties telegraphing potential consequences against the Houthis today following that massive strike, including the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who actually was in Bahrain today, meeting with the king there. And also in a readout, the Secretary of State said that the Houthis are going to be and the State Department said that they discussed the Houthis' actions. The Secretary is saying that the Houthis will face consequences.
Of course, Bahrain is also the headquarters for U.S. Naval Central Command, where many of the naval activities in the Central Command region are based.
We've also seen reaction from the U.K. Defense Secretary, who said to watch this space in terms of a potential retaliation against the Houthis.
It is something that the U.S. has not been eager to carry out, particularly strikes on the Houthis inside Yemen itself, because they don't want to upend a very fragile peace deal that has been brokered by the U.S. there in the last couple of years.
But still, clearly, given this massive escalation here, the U.S. feeling pressure to respond in a meaningful way -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for the update.
So, he's no stranger to controversy, but Aaron Rodgers' recent comments about Jimmy Kimmel are getting him booted from an ESPN show where he's been a mainstay all year. What the show's host, Pat McAfee, is now saying about the move.
[15:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Aaron Rodgers is done. No more as a guest on Pat McAfee's show for the rest of the NFL season. The host making the announcement today after Rodgers appeared on the show yesterday but did not apologize for his earlier conspiratorial rants. SANCHEZ: This decision might come as a relief to executives at Disney.
Rodgers ignited controversy over the last week when he falsely suggested that Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night comedian on ABC, might appear in documents linking him to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
CNN's Oliver Darcy joins us now. Oliver, what did Pat McAfee say about this?
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, Boris, I'm sure Disney is very relieved to try to put this chapter behind them.
You know, Kimmel, sorry, Rodgers inspired a lot of controversy because he attacked Kimmel, suggesting falsely, of course, that he might appear in the Epstein documents. But he also has been promoting a lot of conspiracy theories over the last few months on Pat McAfee's ESPN show. And yesterday, people who tuned in got a taste of that, where he was pushing medical misinformation about the vaccines, attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, going after the media.
He even went after an ESPN executive on ESPN's air. And so, this was just really bad publicity for ESPN. This is not what the network wants to be known for.
And so today, Pat McAfee, the host, coming out and saying that Aaron Rodgers is no longer going to be joining them for the rest of the NFL season.
Now, I am told that this is in direct response to Rodgers' behavior on the program. You know, in past seasons, in past NFL seasons, Rodgers has been a guest as the playoffs have been underway. But that won't be the case this year.
And frankly, Pat McAfee, who has a very good relationship with Rodgers, he pays them seven figures to come on the show every Tuesday for these interviews. He also seemed relieved. Take a look at what he said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT MCAFEE, ESPN, THE PAT MCAFEE SHOW: There could be a lot of people that are happy with that, myself included, to be honest. But the way it ended -- it got real loud. And real loud. I'm happy that that is not going to be my mentions going forward, which is great news.
I'm running my show. I keep my creative rights, OK, 100 percent. Who's going to create me and my guys?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARCY: And McAfee said that this is not what he wants his show to be known for. And so, I think ESPN, Disney, they're looking to put this all behind them.
KEILAR: Very interesting to hear what he said there. Oliver, thank you for that. Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll have much more news after the break.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Some breaking news into CNN right now. Emergency crews are combing a Tahoe ski resort for possible victims after an avalanche.
A captain for CAL FIRE tells CNN that their teams have responded to reports of multiple people trapped in that avalanche.
KEILAR: This resort, Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley, has closed both sides of the mountain for the rest of the day. We have CNN's Chad Myers in the Weather Center watching this for us. Talk to us, Chad, about what these rescue teams are facing.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, heavy snow right now. And obviously the winds have been gusting between 60 and 70 miles per hour today. Even some spots in the highest of elevations warmer than that, higher than that. Almost 90 miles per hour coming over the top of some of those ridges.
So, yes, it is still snowing right now. And we've seen this snow for a while. But it's the snow and the wind basically making a large drift on top of the mountain. The mountaintop itself getting a cornice of snow.
On top, that snow wants to fall down because of the steepness of the slope. And you get all the snow coming across the top, building up this cornice or building up basically just a snow drift. All of a sudden that snow drift, because of gravity, does come down.
Most of the time they take care of these with howitzers and things like that to get these to shake and the snowpack to fall down all by itself. But this one obviously triggered something early, early this morning. And so right now the slope angle is about 30 degrees.
Let me get rid of this and I'll show you what we're talking about. There is Lake Tahoe. There's Reno. There's San Francisco proper. I'll zoom you in to the topographic elevation here. This is a very high peak here.
K-22 is the lift that is right there going all the way down to Olympic Valley. And so that cornice would have been right up here on top of this element right there. That snow just kind of drifting up there and waiting to fall.
[15:55:00]
And obviously it did right down here, right down through and toward Olympic Village and Olympic Valley.
I can tell you that a lot of people that I've been listening to now on the scanners saying this was a fairly big avalanche. This wasn't just a small little shoot. So obviously search and rescue is still going on there.
SANCHEZ: Chad Myers, thank you so much for a look at that. We'll of course stay on top of this news and bring you the very latest. We're going to take a quick break. We're back in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We have some new details just in to CNN. When Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at the House Oversight Committee's hearing room this morning, many senior White House officials were caught completely by surprise.
[16:00:02]
CNN has learned that some of those officials only learned about Hunter Biden's visit to the Capitol in real time, as they watched TV coverage of his unexpected move. This is according to one senior White House official. We'll, of course, keep an eye on this story and many others. Hunter Biden's appearance is going to be part of a conversation in the next hour you will want to stay tuned in for.
"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts in just a few seconds. Thanks for joining us today.
