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Anthony Scaramucci, Former White House Communications Director, Discusses GOP Primary Race; FAA Urges Airlines To Inspect Earlier Generation Of Boeing 737s; Biden Speaks Ahead Of Reproductive Task Force Meeting; Chiefs Face Ravens In AFC Title Game. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 22, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: And I think his instincts here are that he's a victim and that this is a specious case and the more time he spends inside the courtroom, the more sympathy and strength he gets from his ardent supporters. So it seems to be working for him.

Now obviously, they canceled the court today. But in general, that has been a good strategy for him. Then he hops a plane to New Hampshire and does a little bit of light campaigning. And obviously, he's well ahead, Boris, so he's probably right about this.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You hit on something that I find interesting. When I was in Iowa for the caucuses last week, specifically about this case, the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, he was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman. And yet, as you pointed out, he draws sympathy from his supporters.

How does that compute when it comes to the Republican party more broadly?

SCARAMUCCI: It is a grievance party now. So, the grievance party is such that Mr. Trump represents a very large group of angry people that are angry at the establishment.

He once said that he could shoot people on Fifth Avenue. He could be convicted of guilt of rape, as an example, and those people are going to stay with him no matter what because he is the avatar of their anger.

Somebody like Governor Haley, where she could have created a new market for herself -- there are 144 million people in the country that don't vote. She could have reached out to those people and tried to bring them into the Republican party but she didn't do that. The governor didn't do that.

And so it's really his supporters versus the old guard of Republicans. And I think that's the big problem for the Republican Party right now.

SANCHEZ: So is your read on the race that effectively that it is over? That Trump is inevitable as the nominee? SCARAMUCCI: I think, barring the insurrection case, where he has Mark

Meadows as the chief witness for the government, barring the documents case, where you and I both know, after those documents went missing, they've also lost some of our human intelligence agents on the ground. I think somebody has to answer for that.

But assuming Mr. Trump doesn't have to answer to either of those two things, I think it's very likely he becomes the nominee. And then it's a re-do of 2020.

And my prediction in that case is that the president, President Biden, will beat Donald Trump like he did in 2020.

I don't see Trump growing his market either but I don't see people that did not vote for Trump last time voting for him this time. That will give a handy lead to President Biden.

SANCHEZ: Your prediction contradicts something that I heard you say about the consensus that global thought leaders sort of have it baked in that they believe that Trump is going to win the election this year.

How do you square those two? Why are they wrong?

SCARAMUCCI: What ends up happening in an elitist commune like that is there's a lot of max selling. So people don't want to embarrass themselves or say something that is nonconventional.

So it is the very same people who said that Hillary Clinton was going to be president in 2016. Then, back in 2020, before the pandemic or on the eve of the pandemic, they said that Trump was going to win. Neither one of those two things happened.

But I think it is -- I think it is decided that his resurgence and the media story that is him, it is easy for an elitist to say, oh, it is going to be him. This way, if they are wrong, it is not a big deal. But if they are right, they can say I told you so.

Those people are invariably wrong. I think that is a very good counter indicator that the president will reelection, President Biden.

SANCHEZ: You recently criticized Wall Street and their perspective about another Trump presidency arguing that he is bad for business. But there are a lot of voters out there that have indicated that they prefer Trump to Joe Biden on the economy.

What do you attribute that to?

SCARAMUCCI: Perceptions are very hard in our society. And you know a lie travels two and a half times around the world before the truth can get out of the door.

During the Biden administration, the economy has done reasonably well. Inflation is tame. The stock market is at an all-time high.

During the Trump administration, we lost 21 million jobs. Some will blame it on Covid. Others will blame it on the president's malpractice.

But the perception is that the Republicans do better for business because they're low tax or they're tax friendly, if you will. It has not been the case, if you look at apples to apples, in terms of the comparison.

And I think that this is the difficulty for President Biden and his team. He has to get out there and explain the economic story better. He is down 25 points on the economy and he really should not be based on the data.

[14:35:06]

But my point is more broad and it is related to the rule of law and it's related to taking Trump seriously when he talks about being a dictator for a day or persecuting his adversaries.

One of the greatest things in our system is the predictability of the legal system and the common law precedent of the legal system. And whether people like it or not, Boris, it has lowered the cost of capital in the society.

You don't want an executive threatening to upset that. That would be very bad for businesses long term.

SANCHEZ: Anthony Scaramucci, we have to leave the conversation there. It's great to see you.

SCARAMUCCI: Good to be here. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still ahead, 20-year-old Nick Dunlop is now the first amateur golfer to win a PGA event in more than three decades. But because he is an amateur, he is leaving a pile of money on the table, over $1.5 million. More on this up-and-coming star that some are comparing to a young Tiger Woods when we come back.

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[14:40:23]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Biden is offering condolences after military officials announced that two missing Navy SEALs are presumed dead, the first American servicemembers that have died since the war in Gaza began.

The pair went overboard during a raid on a boat off the coast of Somalia. Their team seized Iranian-made weapons that were bound for Yemen.

But during the mission, one of the SEALs fell into the water due to the eight-foot seas. And the other one jumped in to save him. After an exhaustive 10-day search, military officials announced that both are dead. In a statement, Biden said, "These SEALs represented the very best of

our country, pledging their lives to protect their fellow Americans. Our hearts go out to the family members, loved ones, friends and shipmates who are grieving for these two brave Americans."

The Federal Aviation Administration is urging airlines to inspect door panels on an earlier version of Boeing 737 airplanes.

SANCHEZ: Officials warn that the planes have an identical door plug design of the 737 Max-9. You'll remember, a door plug blew out midair on a new Max Model jet during an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month.

The new Max-9s have been grounded for safety inspections after a probe found loose bolts on a number of those airplanes.

We want to discuss with Mary Schiavo, who is a CNN transportation analyst, who, we should note also, is part of a lawsuit involving a Boeing plane crash back in 2019.

But let's start with CNN's Gabe Cohen.

Gabe, walk us through the details about this call for inspections.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What has been a very turbulent month for Boeing, it just seems to be getting worse. But the FAA is now telling the airlines to go back and inspect yet another model. This time, the 737 900ER.

And the reason is because, those door plugs, the same ones that we have been talking about for weeks. Because the 900ER, most of them use the same door plug design as the Max-9.

Which is the plug that blew off the side of that flight taking off from Portland earlier this month, causing a dramatic emergency landing, that frightening scene in the sky, a flight flying through the air with a hole in the side of it.

Since then, the Max-9 has been grounded. Inspectors have been looking at those airplanes. They have found some loose bolts inside the door plugs. But they have also been looking at other Boeing models.

And of the FAA is saying, they look at the 900ER and there is some issue with the bolts that are inside the door plugs. We don't know what that issue is and we are waiting for more details. But it is enough that they are telling airlines they need to go back and make sure those plugs are secured on the planes.

And this is raising more questions about the safety of Boeing aircraft. When it comes to the 900ER, there are more than 400 of them in operation in the U.S., for Alaska, United and Delta.

The airline say they will not see major disruption when it comes to their service. This is not a formal grounding. It is a recommendation. But they are doing inspections. Now we are waiting on the Max-9. We don't know when it might be able

to fly again. But just this week, we are expecting the NTSB is finally going to open the door, the door plug, I should say, that blew off inside of that flight, that was later found on the ground.

They are going to be looking see, were there ever bolts inside of it? Were they securely fastened?

Once they can get those answers, they can figure out where in the timeline a mistake might have been made. Was it with the supplier who built it? Was it with Boeing who assembled the airplane? Or even possibly with the airline operating it.

KEILAR: The idea that a bolt might not have been on it --

SANCHEZ: That's wild.

KEILAR: -- is quite alarming.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: That's incredibly alarming.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: Mary, how concerning is it to you that both of these airplane models share the same door plug design?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: It is very concerning because there's a warning put out for a reason. But this point, I suppose the good news for Boeing is this is a safety alert.

The safety alert says that they inspect and they have not grounded them yet. They're supposed to check. But they are very similar. And they have found other problems.

But the counter to that is, this model of aircraft, if you put all of the 490 of them that are out there, but it is disconcerting. Because often when you do inspections like this, you find other problems and you find it is not just a one-off, it's not just one airplane, it's more airplanes.

[14:45:02]

Because if you have problems in the manufacture or the assembly, remember, it is an assembly line, so many can be affected. It is very concerning. And it remains to be seen if they find additional problems.

Remember, the NTSB put out an interesting statement. They said the four bolts were missing and we don't know if they were ever there.

One of the biggest concerns is, are we dealing with bad bolts or some loose manufacturing? Or were huge steps missed? So it is disconcerting but they have a chance to turn it around. SANCHEZ: Mary, one of the points you made, the Max-9 has been

grounded. These 737s, they have been in service for decades. They share the same door design.

Do you think Boeing should ground them all until they are sure that these doors are safe or wait for inspections?

SCHIAVO: I think wait for the inspections. And it will be the Federal Aviation Administration that makes this decision. Of course, Boeing can request that. Boeing can say go ahead and ground them. But I don't think they will until they find out, what they find out in these inspections.

Because it could also be a problem in that quality control slipped in the last few years. I think they stopped making this model in 2019.

And if it is a quality control issue that has recently slipped or if Boeing have changed something in final assembly or what has been done. So they need to pinpoint where this is coming about.

Obviously, people who keep talking about how fortunate everyone was. This was a disaster without fatalities, the door coming off the plane. By doing all of these inspections, hopefully, another disaster can be avoided.

Because if another thing like that happens, Boeing has got some tough flying ahead. And they really need to get a handle on this. This is lucky for Boeing they'll do the safety alert and just go look at them all.

KEILAR: Mary and Gabe, thank you so much.

Let's go now to President Biden who is speaking about reproductive rights.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From her doctor, she received the news that no one wants to hear, the life of her child and her own life were at risk if she continued the pregnancy.

Instead of being able to receive care from the doctor, she was blocked by the state of Texas' attorney general and the state Supreme Court.

Think about that. She and her family are going through a frightening and heartbreaking ordeal. And she had to fight extreme politicians in the court. They turned a private and painful matter into a public matter.

She had to leave the state to get the help that she needed to protect herself and her ability to have more children in the future. The cruelty is astounding.

An affront to a woman's dignity being told by extreme politicians to wait, to get sicker and sicker to the point where her life might be in danger before she can get the care that she needs.

That cruel reality is the result of extreme Republicans who, for years, have made it their mission to end Roe v. Wade.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 21 states, abortion bans are in effect. Many with no exception for rape or incest.

We have doctors with us today who are on the front lines of this crisis. They're making a test of the consequences these extreme laws are having on doctors and on their ability to care for their patients.

Some doctors are feeling they are fleeing their home state because the laws that would send them to prison to provide evidence-based health care.

In states like Texas, doctors can get a life sentence, a life sentence for providing the care they were trained to provide. It is outrageous. It's simply outrageous.

And frankly, this is just the beginning. My congressional Republican friends are going to --

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[14:53:35]

SANCHEZ: Shirtless with beer in hand, Jason Kelce is the big brother we all wish we had, baring his chest in the bitter cold to cheer on his younger brother, Travis, who scored two touchdowns last night during a big playoff win. The Chiefs defeating the Buffalo Bills.

KEILAR: Now the Chiefs will face the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game.

The Detroit Lions are also one win away from the Superbowl. Who would have thunk it? They're going to face off against San Francisco in the NFC title game.

We have CNN sports anchor, Coy Wire, with us.

So everyone is like too much Taylor at these games. You could hardly pay attention to her because it was all about this shirtless Kelce.

(LAUGHTER)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. Rejoice because Taylor Swift is still in the playoffs.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: Three times Josh Allen and the Bills have faced Kansas City and the Chiefs in the playoffs three times. Kansas City has shattered Bills fan streams.

Let's look at the highlights. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce connecting for their first of two touchdowns of the night. They passed Tom Brady for the most quarterback-receiver combo in playoff history.

Kelce shows those heart hands to Taylor up in the stands. Then Brother Jason is everywhere the spirit animal.

Josh Allen and the Bills, they jabbed back scoring one of his three total touchdowns on the night. Back-and-forth this game went. Six lead changes in all.

[14:55:02]

But the Bills dropped several opportunities on their final drive, including that perfect pass to Stefon Diggs. Oh, my goodness. It was over a minutes ago, Tyler, the kicker, has a chance to tie it. He pushes it wide right.

Chiefs win 27-24. They advanced to the AFC championship for a sixth straight season.

The fighting Swifties, they are moving on.

SANCHEZ: Coy, you know better than most that the words "wide right" have a really cutting special meaning to Bills fans. What was it like watching that yesterday?

WIRE: It felt like I got someone hit me with a big bag of buffalo wings right in the gut.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: Maybe that was the big bag of buffalo wings that I ate.

By the way, it just crushes your hopes and dreams. You have to play Patrick Mahomes every year for a chance to go to the Superbowl. Rough times being a Bills fan.

SANCHEZ: I would not mind a sack of buffalo wings.

KEILAR: I know. That sounds pretty good.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Coy Wire, thanks a lot.

KEILAR: Thank you.

So only one candidate is standing in the way of Donald Trump winning the GOP presidential nomination. The pressure is on Nikki Haley now to win tomorrow in New Hampshire's primary. Ahead, the latest on the race.

This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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