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U.S. Re-Designates Houthis As Global Terrorist Entity; Biden Challenger Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) Discusses His "Gaining Momentum" Ahead Of New Hampshire Primary; Ohio Police Raid Home Where Toddler Was On Ventilator. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired January 17, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, an about-face for the Biden administration in the Middle East. The White House is re-designating the Houthis in Yemen as a global terrorist entity.
Officials say the goal is to keep the Iran-backed rebels from launching more attacks in the Red Sea. And it comes after the U.S. led several nations in striking Houthi targets in Yemen.
CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger, joins us now. He is also the White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times."
David, great to see you as always.
Just on a technical point, what does the re-designation mean? And how does it impact security in the Red Sea?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me, Boris.
The fact of the matter is that the Houthis have proven themselves in the past few weeks to be a classic terror organization. They have been shooting missiles at ships, taking over ships, holding people hostage. That is what it is to be a terrorist. So clearly, they deserve to be on the list.
But let's not confuse that with the reality that being on the list is not going to change a lot for the Houthis. These are no people who sit around thinking about opening up bank accounts in the New York Fed or even in Switzerland.
While this has some effects in the ability to crack down on countries that may be found to be moving goods to the Houthis, or banks and other operations that may be financing supplies to them. It probably will not make that big of a difference.
The evidence is sanctions on Russia in the past few years have not stopped them from being able to conduct the war. SANCHEZ: The U.S.-led coalition is now engaging with the Houthis,
their main backer, Iran, is more directly involved with strikes in the region, including in Iraq and Pakistan.
You have written a lot about Iran being more aggressive recently, pursuing its aspirations. Why do you think Tehran is now emboldened?
SANGER: I think there are internal reasons for the Iranians to be doing this and there are external reasons.
The internal reasons is there a power struggle in Iran that is already happening about who will succeed the supreme leader, who is 84 years old. Not in great health.
And there's always been a struggle that has always had the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most elite part of their military.
They are the ones pushing on the missile program and nuclear program, and the drone program. This is a moment for them to step out and flex their muscles.
It is also a bit of a warning to the United States and other potential adversaries to Iran to say they may not have the nuclear weapon yet but they have a much more sophisticated arsenal than they did three or four years ago.
[13:35:04]
And we are seeing that in Ukraine because of the effect of this -- of the drones they are selling. We believe they are negotiating with the Russians right now on missiles as well.
SANCHEZ: David, you recently detailed a secret U.S. agreement with Iran that was brokered in part by a top Joe Biden administration official, Bret McGurk, which would keep Iran with its proxies quiet in exchange for the Biden administration outlining a new path to a new JCPOA, a new nuclear agreement.
That has obviously fallen apart. Does the U.S. have many options to contain Iran?
SANGER: We don't. I think that that is part of why we've seen the Iranians act out.
They are being careful. They have not gone directly -- the Iranians have not gone directly after Americans or American targets. I don't think they want to be in a direct confrontation with the United States' war with Israel. They are happy to have proxies do that, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and others.
The fact of the matter is, at this point, any discussion of a revived nuclear deal is bad. You could not bring back the 2015 deal, because parts of it expire in 2030, just six years away.
That looks different than it did when this was signed in the Obama administration. So the fact of the matter is the Iranians have given up on the nuclear
deal. The Americans have largely given up on the nuclear deal.
And I think the Iranians are thinking the U.S. has his hands full in the region and, because it does not want to see the fighting expand, it will not push back that hard. At least that is their bet. They may overstep.
SANCHEZ: David Sanger, as always, appreciate your perspective. Thank you.
SANGER: Great to be with you, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
So President Joe Biden's name will not be on the ballot in New Hampshire, but could he still win the primary? We will talk to one of his challengers, Congressman Dean Phillips, about that and more when we come back.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Democratic presidential candidate, Dean Phillips, claims to be gaining momentum in New Hampshire even as polls show the Minnesota congressman in the single digits.
President Biden will not appear on the primary ballot in New Hampshire next week. He did not file because of a change in the party calendar that made South Carolina the first Democratic contest on February 3rd.
New Hampshire, loathe to give up its early contest status, did not accept the change. So voters casting ballots for Biden will have to write his name in.
The University of New Hampshire and CNN poll shows 69 percent of Democratic primary voters plan to do just that. And 7 percent say they will support Dean Phillips, 6 percent are behind author, Marianne Williamson.
Polls also continuing to show President Biden trailing Donald Trump nationally in hypothetical matchups, but it's still within the margin of error in the latest CBS News New Gov survey, so showing no clear winner.
Congressman Dean Phillips joining us from New Hampshire.
Sir, thank you for being with us.
REP DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN) & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Great to be with you, Brianna.
KEILAR: You said you would be thrilled if you got 20 percent in the New Hampshire primary. You had a campaign advisor citing a very specific 42 percent as the goal. Why have you downgraded? PHILLIPS: Not a downgrade at all, Brianna. And 42 percent is what
Senator Gene McCarthy achieved in 1968 against a very weak Democrat incumbent who ended up leaving the race some weeks later. I think there is an analogy today.
And the American Research Group poll, a tracking poll every week or so, has me going from 0 percent when I first started on October 27th to 28 percent as of yesterday.
Yes, if I am in the 20s, that would be a great achievement. But more than that, it will demonstrate where people are at.
The polls are not lying, Brianna. President Joe Biden is a good man and a man I respect, but he will lose to Donald Trump. If it is Nikki Haley, it will be a wipeout.
And that is why Democrats should be fostering a competition and not a coronation. I am so excited for the Granite Staters here on January 3rd to demonstrate that.
I like to under promise and under deliver and I think we will see that in less than a week.
KEILAR: You mentioned the 28 percent. I know there is one poll out there that is an outlier, as you're aware, consistently polls are showing a bit of a wider lead, that we're seeing a pattern there.
But I do want to talk to you about policy. The border is obviously -- you hear this -- concerning so many voters out there. You have said that Biden is making a disaster of the border right now and messing this up.
He is to the right of his party, considering actual changes to asylum and border policy. A lot of criticism, as you're well aware, coming from progressives on that.
Where specifically would you go with this issue that he is not?
PHILLIPS: Let me be forthright. President Biden did not mess it up. He just hasn't done enough to clean it up. And frankly, nor has the U.S. Congress.
This has been a massive failure of Democrats and Republicans for decades, Brianna. I have been to the southern border twice. I think it's time for Democrats to recognize that it is a strategy, a human tragedy, an economic tragedy, and a reputational tragedy.
So you ask how we fix it. It is not that complicated. We need some barriers, we need technology, we need to work with Mexican authorities to ensure we have better border security on both sides.
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But most importantly, Brianna, it is time for America to wake up and understand it is our very policy, our asylum law that is creating this wave of migration that forces people to come across the border. They have to save $10,000, pay Mexican cartels, which is enriching
them to the tune of billions of dollars a year.
And then they are brought to the border, they're processed, they're dumped in the streets, perhaps in El Paso, with no money and no ability to work, and often times now put on buses going to cities with no federal resources to accommodate them.
What should we do? Force the adjudication and filing of asylum cases in countries of origin. Keep people safe locally, adjudicate their cases. And if they qualify, we Americans should bring them to the United States and they will have their own $10,000 in their pocket to start a life here.
It is not rocket science. I am appalled by the generations of Democrats and Republicans who have simply failed to solve the problem. I will. That is why I am running for president. I am so tired of this, Brianna.
KEILAR: How is it different from asylum changes that he is considering? Which is extraordinary that he is at that position, considering where we have seen immigration reform be.
PHILLIPS: What I know is this, getting anything done, in a democracy like ours, requires relationship building. I am afraid the president does not have those relationships with a new generation on the right and the left.
And I do. I have been working with my Republican colleagues on the Problem Solvers Caucus on some thoughtful solutions. There is a bipartisan Dignity Act pending in Congress and getting no attention.
I am afraid that both parties are kind of led in a way that prevents the solving of problems because of the nonsensical, every two-year battle to win. As a result, we fight each other instead of fighting for each other.
I think the president, who has been in Washington, Brianna, for 50 years, 50 years, and all of these challenges, whether racial, wealth gap, homelessness, the fact that our health care --
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PHILLIPS: -- system is broken at our southern border.
KEILAR: I have a question that I have to get in and with have limited time. It would be a miscarriage if I don't get this in.
Because you have gotten a lot of attention for -- you mentioned race there. The DEI language on your Web site has changed. This is obviously an issue you are dealing with as well.
"Politico" highlighted this in a new report. You changed the DEI drop down to, quote, "equity and restorative justice." Why did you do that? And can you explain the difference between the two things? PHILLIPS: Absolutely. First, we did not change the language. We did
change the drop down. And it's because I believe in diversity, I believe in equity, I believe in inclusion.
But what has inclusion done for the black community in this country? What have both parties done to close the racial wealth gap? I want to take it a step further. I made the change to restorative justice.
And by the way, nobody buys me, Brianna. I am the only member of Congress who takes note PAC money, corporate or otherwise, no lobbyist money, no money from members of Congress and I don't have a leadership PAC.
That makes me the only one out of 535 people that does not play that nauseating game. Nobody buys me. If a donor came to be and told me to do something, I would tell the donor to go pound sand. That's the truth.
But here's what we --
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PHILLIPS: -- have to do.
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PHILLIPS: Let me tell you this.
KEILAR: I need to stop you on that. I want to ask you --
PHILLIPS: Brianna --
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KEILAR: Bill Ackman has obviously insinuated he has done that very thing to you, which is maybe what you are speaking to?
PHILLIPS: Yes. I have been learning from so many people over the last two months about a lot of things I wasn't aware of.
Mr. Ackman is one of them, one of thousands of people who have shared perspective, but he has not asked me, told me, informed me to do anything at all.
I want to make it really clear. Let me get to the point. We are litigating slogans instead of talking about solutions. And I've got a plan --
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KEILAR: Is he lying?
PHILLIPS: I want to close --
KEILAR: Because he said he did.
PHILLIPS: He is not lying. No, no. I'll tell you who is lying. The media. This is a false portrayal of the truth.
But, Brianna, let me --
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KEILAR: But he tweeted it.
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KEILAR: Let me pull up the -- Congressman, in fairness --
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KEILAR: let me pull up the tweet. He put this up. He said it in his tweet that you were "getting educated as we speak." That is not the media. That is Bill Ackman himself -- or, sorry on X, I don't know. He is putting it out there himself.
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KEILAR: That is not the media, Congressman. That's Bill Ackman.
PHILLIPS: You know, Brianna, what a shame that, if the media's portraying being educated as a problem. I listen to everybody.
But let me -- that is my whole point. Let me explain this whole thing. I am being educated. But the most important education I have received is how the black community has been suffering because of the long tail of slavery that we have never rectified and never repaired.
We have generations of Democrats and Republicans making promises that have never been kept and it is time to do something. And That is why I am running for president, Brianna. This is about repair.
[13:50:00]
This is about creating American dream accounts. At the birth of a child in America, I want to see the federal government endow an account with $1000 to create the quality from the very beginning of life so that every young person has an investment account invested in U.S. markets.
And they will study investment in high school and elementary school, and track investments. And when they graduate, as an incentive, they get their money.
I want to establish housing for all. We need to build seven million housing units in America to stop homelessness and make it easier for first-time and first-generation homebuyers to succeed.
I want to ensure that we have pre-K education through college education that is tuition free, so everybody can be educated who wants to be.
I want to make sure that we have health care for everyone. That you can start your life and end your life with health care like every other developed nation in the world provides.
Then Social Security, I want to also pilot UBI programs in the most disadvantaged, underserved, senseless tracks in this country. Because we have to make repairs.
Am I being educated by Mr. Ackman and many others on both sides of this issue and every one of them? Yes.
Frankly, I wish more members of Congress would get out of Washington, stop the nonsense, and start listening to everyday Americans who are saying that costs and chaos and the racial wealth gap is intolerable.
And they are sick and tired of the promises that are never kept. That is why I am doing this, Brianna.
By the way, for Democrats, we cannot do anything unless we win this election. Joe Biden --
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PHILLIPS: -- is going to lose to Donald Trump. That is the truth. And he will be slaughtered by Nikki Haley. That's why it all starts here on January 23rd in New Hampshire. And I think it's going to change a lot of this primary election. And we should simply have a competition --
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KEILAR: We have --
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KEILAR: I'm so -- I am sorry, sir, we're out of time. I will say I just mentioned that because of the media. He is giving that impression very clearly, as you say, it's the media taking that. But we do have to leave it there.
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PHILLIPS: Let me use your words, "educated," "educated" --
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KEILAR: That's his word. No, that's Bill Ackman's word.
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KEILAR: Thank you so much, Congressman Dean Phillips. We appreciate your time.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Brianna.
KEILAR: Body camera footage showing Ohio police officers using flash bangs during the raid of a home with a small child on a ventilator inside. Now the family wants answers.
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SANCHEZ: Some newly released police body camera video shows the moment officers in Ohio deployed exploding flash bangs inside a home where there was a toddler on a ventilator. We are going to play some of that video now.
But we should warn you, some may find this disturbing.
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SANCHEZ: CNN's Anthena Jones has been tracking this story for us.
Athena, first, the condition of the baby, how is he doing? What are you learning about how this transpired?
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. I spoke with the hospital a short while ago. He is in stable condition, of course, still hospitalized.
This incident happened a week ago. He is hospitalized because the mother of the child, you saw at the end of that clip we just showed, the body camera footage, she said that he was injured and harmed by the flash bangs these officers used when they arrived.
You do not see that here. But when they arrived, the officers set up two flash bangs, one near a window and one in the driveway. But the one by the window blew out the window and that was the room that this young baby was sitting in a little bouncy seat bouncer.
The mother said the child was diagnosed with chemical pneumonitis, which is a form of lung irritation. And this came about from the child inhaling chemicals released by the flash bangs.
Now the Elyria Police Department says that the flash bangs do not produce a continuous burn and they do not deploy or contain pepper gas or chemical agents.
But this young mother said her child was harmed. He is still hospitalized. They said they will bring legal action.
The Elyria Police Department said, "Any allegations suggesting that the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true."
The mayor released this video footage from the eight body worn cameras of the officers. He said, "While the footage captured clearly it did not show what occurred when the search warrant was executed. It does not answer questions of what led to the warrant itself."
He has asked for investigation by the Lorain County sheriff. And the police department did not want to respond until that investigation by the sheriff's office is complete -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: The allegation is that the person they were looking for was not even there and had not been there for a while.
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JONES: For years.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Athena Jones, we look forward to more details on that story. Thank you so much for the latest.
Donald Trump is back in court facing E. Jean Carroll calling him a liar. The judges is now threatening to kick the former president out of the courtroom. All of that coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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