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Biden Says He Has Decided How To Respond To Deadly Attack; Pressure Growing To Reach Deal For Hostages' Release; DOJ Investigating Democratic Rep. Cori Bush For Misuse Of Funds; Today: House GOP Moving Ahead With Effort To Impeach Mayorkas; Xi Promised Biden In November That China Wouldn't Meddle In 2024 U.S. Election. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 30, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:30]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Biden says he has decided how to respond to the drone attack that claimed the lives of three U.S. service members. And we're going to take a closer look at the different options facing the President as he tries to avoid what he calls a wider war in the Middle East.

Plus, CNN is on the frontlines in Ukraine taking you into the trenches as funding in Congress remains at a standstill. And Ukrainian forces grapple with dwindling supplies and constant Russian bombardment.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And Neuralink. Elon Musk's controversial startup says it has implanted a chip in the human brain for the first time. We're going to break down what the chip supposedly does and implications for modern medicine.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Today, President Biden spoke to the families of the three soldiers who were killed in a drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. He carried out that solemn duty as he and his national security team we retaliation. Just a short time ago, Biden said that he has made a decision on the U.S. response and now the world is waiting to see what that response looks like and whether it will succeed were prior actions to damage and deter Iran backed militias have failed.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon for us. Natasha, the administration understandably, not divulging specifics at this point in time, but what range of options have emerged?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, there's a whole menu of options that the Pentagon has surely presented to President Biden for a response to this attack that killed three Americans and wounded upwards of 40 other U.S. service members on Sunday, and the difficulty here is of course (INAUDIBLE) response and it's likely to actually maintain -- be sustained over time, according to the Secretary of State. So, it remains to be seen how the U.S. is going to respond. But it's safe to say that this is going to be likely larger than any kind of response we have seen before, Brianna.

KEILAR: And Natasha, as I mentioned, the former president spoke to the family members of these three service members who were killed.

BERTRAND: He did. He spoke to them this morning. And he according to John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, he -- he said that he that he was mourning with these families. He said that he wanted to emphasize to them how much the U.S. respected their son -- their daughter and son service. And he gauged whether or not they would be OK with him attending the ceremony on Friday for the dignified transfer of their remains at Dover Air Force Base. And they apparently assented to that.

And so, President Biden will be attending that dignified transfer on Friday. And of course, it will be a difficult moment for him but of course, one that he has traditionally excelled at right this is kind of his strength. He is good at comforting families who have lost a loved one. And so, he is expected to be there on Friday. We -- it remains to be seen whether the U.S. will have responded by then. So, it will be interesting given the dynamics of the national security situation how this plays out, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be watching for that. Natasha, thank you for that report from the Pentagon.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: New developments now in the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas says it is studying a new proposal for the possible release of hostages and a renewed truce after negotiators in Paris hammered out a broad framework for a deal. Hamas says its top priority is a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

But today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back saying that Israel would not pull troops from the Palestinian enclave and he vowed the country will not release quote thousands of terrorists as part of a deal with Hamas.

[14:05:13]

Back here in Washington, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, met today with the Qatari Prime Minister about getting a hostage deal in place. Later, he's expected to meet with the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas. We do anticipate later on in the day that we will hear from them.

We want to turn now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, now he's live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what are you learning about the status of this potential deal?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it appears that negotiators have agreed to a broad framework during that key summit in Paris that brought together U.S., Israeli, American -- Qatari and Egyptian intelligence officials all together. The broad strokes are this, a six week pause in the fighting that would see the release of civilian hostages from Gaza, followed by a perhaps a longer pause in the fighting that would also see the release of Israeli soldiers as well as the bodies of hostages who are also being held hostage in Gaza.

But those are the broad strokes, the details are what may trip things up as we continue down this process. And officials who are involved in these talks have been cautioning that even though there is this broad framework, there is nonetheless the possibility of details getting in the way as we get forward, a lot of details to resolve. And the main sticking point, of course, is over whether or not this deal will actually lead to the end of the war between Israel and Hamas.

So, the Israeli prime minister today making very clear that he will not agree to an end of the war until both objectives of that war have been reached. That is the return -- eliminating the Gaza Strip. Hamas for its part is seeking an end to the war. They say that they're reviewing this latest proposal, but they are doing so within the context of whether or not it will see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. So certainly, a lot to still be worked out and key meetings still ongoing.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond and live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, thank you.

Brianna?

KEILAR: We're joined now by the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. Congressman, thank you for taking some time to be with us today.

President Biden saying he's decided on a response for the drone attack in Jordan that killed these three service members. Do you expect that he will come to Congress ahead of time?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, he won't come to Congress broadly, they do typically give heads up to key committee chair and ranking members to the leadership about what they're going to do. They may well do that. But no, he won't make a broad statement to Congress, because we certainly don't want to warn Iran about what we're planning on doing.

KEILAR: At what point does he need to engage Congress more as you have Democrats saying that this is getting to the point where this isn't just sort of a one-off thing? This is a more concerted con -- or, a sort of continued conflict that the President needs to engage Congress in more?

SMITH: Well, there's two separate questions there. I mean, first of all, the President has engaged Congress, the President and his national security team has briefed and had conversations with key leaders. Certainly, I've had those conversations about -- about what's going on with the Houthis in Yemen, about what's happening with obviously the militias, the Shia backed militias, Iran backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The question you're getting at is does you need Congressional authorization to take military action? In my view, right now, this is still very clearly within the self- defense framework. The Houthi specifically to attack U.S. targets, these militias in Iran have specifically attack U.S. targets. So, he's in self-defense mode. And I think constitutionally, he has the authority to do that.

KEILAR: What is the goal as you see it of a retaliatory strike?

SMITH: The goal is to get Iran to change its calculus. Iran does not want a wider view. They are on thin ice, though. Sorry, the Iranian government is on thin ice with their people right now. Anything that further disrupts the life in Iran just makes things worse for Iran. But right now, they're getting all the benefit and no cost. They are attacking U.S. forces, they're, you know, supporting Hezbollah, supporting Hamas with no cost. We have to get them to change that calculation.

And another key part of this what Iran wants more than anything is they want the U.S. out of the Middle East. Will we have to make clear to them as these sorts of attacks are going to have the opposite effect. We are going to need to be present, our Arab partners in the region like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain are going to want us there, if they continue to see Iran as this type of threat. So, we have to change Iranian calculus. That's the goal.

KEILAR: What changes really the calculus if the Biden administration efforts so far, have not, they've not deterred Iran's proxies? When former president Trump took out the head of the Quds Force it spawned an uptick in proxy retaliations. We saw U.S. servicemembers killed in the wake of that. What could actually stop these attacks on U.S. bases in the region?

[14:10:18]

SMITH: It's a really complicated question. And I think you put it really well, in terms of the challenges there. I mean, look that the answer from former President Trump and others is you just got to hit him and hit him hard. And that'll make them change their mind. And I don't agree with that, because then they have to defend themselves. So, there's multiple things. One, you do have to make it clear that there's a cost for the sort of attacks. But we also have to make it clear that the Middle East is big enough for all of us. If Iran feels existential (INAUDIBLE) threatened, then they're going to hit back even harder. And another piece of this is the conflict in Gaza.

If we continue down a path where there is no future for the Palestinians, that empowers Iran, because they argue that the Houthis and all of these other proxies are acting to defend the Palestinians. And that's not true. Iran is trying to exercise domination in the Middle East, that's why they've been messing in Lebanon, they're messing in Syria, they're messing in Yemen. But if they can use the Palestinians, that gives them an argument.

So, your previous story about trying to get to some sort of resolution to the conflict in Gaza is crucial. And it's crucial the Prime Minister Netanyahu starts to pat -- and chart a path with the Palestinians have a future, saying that they don't, extends the conflict and empowers Iran.

KEILAR: I do want to listen to how the administration is describing this conflict. Here was Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh yesterday.

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SABRINA SINGH, DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: No one is disputing the fact that we are continuing to see the Houthis threatened commercial shipping our own military ships that are in that region in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden. We are seeing skirmishes between Hezbollah and the IDF. But again, the conflict does remain contained to Gaza.

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KEILAR: So, it's a rather siloed explanation. We also saw sort of a siloed explanation, when it came to the administration parsing between the SEALs who died off the coast of Somalia on their mission where they were interdicting Iranian made weapons that were headed for the Houthis in Yemen. Are Biden administration officials being as forthright as they should be about how big and interconnected this conflict in the Middle East has become so that the American people will truly understand that?

SMITH: No, I believe that they are? And look, there's no doubt that this has become big and interconnected, and has been for a while. But when we talk about whether or not this war spreads, obviously, it has spread in some ways beyond -- beyond Gaza, with the Houthis and others. But understand, it could spread a lot more. And what the Pentagon and others in the White House are talking about is if Hezbollah decides to full on go to war with Israel, or if Iran decides to full on go to war with our forces, if Iran actually starts watching these attacks, instead of having their proxies do it, it could spread a lot wider and become a much bigger war.

So, when the administration talks about containing, that's what they're talking about. Yes, this is a very dangerous situation that has spread beyond Gaza already. But it has not spread into this kind of full-scale conflict that would be vastly worse than what we're looking at right now.

KEILAR: Congressman, Adam Smith, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

SMITH: Thanks for the chance.

KEILAR: So still ahead, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing back against claims that he's killing the Senate border deal to help former President Trump's presidential campaign. But he does admit that he has spoken with Trump quote, at length about the border. We have a live report from Capitol Hill next.

Plus, new reporting on Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a promise that he made to President Biden when the two leaders met in November. Xi telling Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 presidential election. We'll have some more details on that.

And Elon Musk saying his company Neuralink is the first to implant a computer chip in a human brain. What kinds of life transforming technologies could be on the horizon? We'll talk about that.

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[14:18:15]

SANCHEZ: Right now, House Republicans -- actually we've breaking news that we want to get to. Democratic Congresswoman Cory Bush is speaking out after confirming that the Justice Department is reviewing her campaign spending on security services. She claims there is no wrongdoing on her behalf. She's being accused by some in Congress of misusing funds to pay for security and appropriately. She's being accused of essentially of hiring her husband. We're expecting that she's going to make some remarks.

Let's listen in from Capitol Hill.

REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): All right, so first and foremost, I hold myself, my campaign and my position to the highest levels of integrity. I also believe in transparency, which is why I can confirm that the Department of Justice is reviewing my campaign spending on security services. We are fully cooperating with this investigation. And I would like to take this opportunity to outline the facts and the truth.

Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life. As the rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services. I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used funds for personal security -- for personal security is simply false.

In recent months, right wing organizations have lodged baseless complaints against me. Peddling notions that I have missed use campaign funds to pay for personal security services. That simply is not true. I have complied with all applicable law -- applicable laws and house rules and will continue to prioritize the rules that govern us as federal elected officials. In particular, the nature of these allegations have been around my husband's role on the campaign in accordance with all applicable rules. I retained my husband as part of my security team to provide security services because he has had extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or above or below fair market rate.

[14:20:39]

These frivolous complaints have resulted in a number of investigations, some of which are still ongoing. The Federal Election Commission and the House Committee on Ethics are currently reviewing the matter, as is the Department of Justice. We are fully cooperating in all these pending investigations in September of last year 2023. After conducting a month-long investigation, the Office of Congressional Ethics found no wrongdoing and voted unanimously to dismiss the case. I look forward to the same outcome from all in pending investigations.

And I am under no illusion that these right-wing organizations will stop politicizing and pursuing efforts to attack me and the work that the people of St. Louis sent me to Congress to do, to lead (ph) boldly, to legislate change my constituents can feel and to save lives. Thank you.

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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you gone to the federal grand jury? Have you spoken to federal grand jury? Have you spoken to federal grand jury?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Appreciated so much.

RAJU: Have you spoken to grand jury? Can you say?

SANCHEZ: So, we were just listening to Congresswoman Cori Bush. She essentially just read out a statement that her office published a short while ago repeating that, no actual federal funds were used to pay for her security. She also made the case that this was political, that people were going after her for her politics and not for any actual wrongdoing.

We want to go to CNN's Manu Raju, who's on the steps of the Capitol right now. Not a lot of direct answers from Cori Bush, Manu, she -- she essentially just read the statement that her office had put out earlier. But in it she claims that this is politics and that she is complying with the investigation that she believes will ultimately prove that she's done nothing wrong.

RAJU: Yes, and look, she's done answering questions about it, as you saw right there. And you're right, Boris is essentially word for word. Exactly the statement that she just put out reading that for off of her phone not to answer any questions and her aid saying she won't take any questions either. The question too, of course, she says he's cooperating to what extent are they talking. Are they -- she spoken to federal prosecutors, and she actually agreed to come testify before a federal grand jury? And where exactly does the investigation stand? We do know that the House, the Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed for documents regarding this investigation that was of course announced on the House floor just yesterday.

So, what exactly does that mean, pertaining to this investigation? She's trying to make the case that that she did not misuse taxpayer dollars and that this is about campaign funds that were used to retain her husband's security firm, I guess he's a cute -- he has some security expertise instead appears to retain his services in regards to threats that she had received. She said that he has expertise, she said that it was below market value. It saved money to go this route. But there are still a lot of questions about the nature of all this. But as you -- as you can hear from the congresswoman, she said she did nothing wrong. But not a lot of questions here. Just not a lot of answers. Boris? SANCHEZ: Now we know -- you'll stay on top of the details of this investigation for us. Manu Raju, thank you for being there.

Staying on Capitol Hill now, House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee are preparing to take a major step toward the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. They're claiming that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors for his handling of the southern border. Now this is a rare and controversial move. It is drawing condemnation from legal scholars across the political spectrum. But House Republicans are undeterred. They are preparing to move ahead today with that resolution that would make Mayorkas the first Cabinet Secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

Let's go to CNN's Lauren Fox. Lauren, what can you tell us about -- about the hearing?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this markup started four hours ago, it is still ongoing. And the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green, told me just a short time ago to buckle up, that this was going to be a very long evening. The expectation is that they could vote tonight to move forward with those two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. What you're seeing right now, in that committee markup is really Republicans and Democrats outlining their respective perspectives on this issue. Democrats have said repeatedly in that meeting that a difference of policy opinion is not grounds for impeachment. Meanwhile, Republicans saying that they feel very strongly that this is the right route. In fact, Mark Green told me that he feels like this is his duty as the chairman of this committee.

[14:25:24]

Now, one of the key questions remains if the votes will exist to actually impeach Mayorkas on the floor of the House of Representatives, and the Republican majority has the narrowest majority right now, just to two vote margin. That means that there's still work to do to convince some Republicans who have not said yet whether or not they would vote to impeach Mayorkas on the floor. I asked Green about that. He told me basically, he continues to work on those members to try to impress upon them why this is so important. But he did say and acknowledge that it's an uphill climb right now.

Meanwhile, this is all happening as House Republicans are rejecting out of hand that emerging Senate border deal. Now we still don't have text for that legislation. But Republicans saying that if the reports are true of what's in this bill, that they aren't supporting it, including some swing district Republicans like Nick Lalota, who told me earlier that he hasn't seen the text, it would be wise to judge the bill before we saw it. But he says he's very concerned about the reports that he's seen. Boris.

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REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): I wouldn't seem wise to take a position on a bill that I haven't seen. But if it is what they're advertising that doesn't address remain in Mexico, that doesn't address mass parole, it doesn't resume border wall construction, key elements of H.R.2 that we know the public knows, would secure this border. If it doesn't have those elements, it should be dead.

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FOX: And he's not the only Republican from the swing district I've talked to today who has that position. Obviously, Donald Trump is looming large here. He has encouraged Republicans to reject the Senate deal. And I think it's just important to point out once again, we don't have text of that emerging Senate agreement. And yet, House Republicans already saying it's dead-on arrival in their chamber force. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox covered a lot of ground there. Lauren, thanks so much for the update.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Now, to a CNN exclusive. We're learning for the first time about an exchange the President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had back in November, about the 2024 election.

CNN senior White House correspondent MJ Lee has more on this exclusive reporting. So, MJ, tell us more about this meeting. And what was discussed here?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, just to set the scene, we are talking about that high stakes summit between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping back in November in California, and sources tell me and my colleague, Sean Lyngaas that President Xi told President Biden that China does not intend to interfere in the U.S. presidential election in 2024. And that it was President Biden who initially raised the issue first. Now that in and of itself would be an important headline. But we are also learning that the same assurance was repeated by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, to Jake Sullivan, the President's National Security Adviser over the weekend when the two met in Bangkok.

So, these are at least two instances we now know of where China is telling the U.S. at the senior most levels that China is not going to meddle in the U.S.'s 2024 presidential election. This is a topic we are told that has come up repeatedly in recent months when U.S. and Chinese officials have met. And I think the context, Brianna of that Biden-Xi meeting, you're showing footage from November, when the two met on the screen there. The context is really important, because that summit came at a moment when tensions between the two countries were historically high. And the reason for that summit was to try to sort of ease those tensions and put in place a sort of reset of sorts between the two countries.

Now, we were told before that summit that this issue was likely to come up. So just a reminder that this has been an ongoing concern for U.S. officials, but just really notable that when the President raise it, that's President Biden, President Xi responded with the reassurance that China is not going to interfere rather than giving any kind -- any other kind of response that he could have, including just dismissing that concern from President Biden.

KEILAR: Very interesting. All right, MJ, we'll have to see if they make good on that promise. MJ Lee live for us at the White House.

Still ahead, Elon Musk says his biotech company just implanted the first brain chip in a human patient. So how significant is this breakthrough? We're going to ask a brand expert. Next.

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