Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Ousted Republican Representative George Santos Announces Primary Run for New York Congressional District; President Biden Delivers State of the Union Address; Former President Trump to Meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban; Interview with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); US Army Sergeant Allegedly Sold Classified Intel to China. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 08, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spring break, city officials implemented a number of new security measures, including these curfews, limiting beach restricts, as well as a closure of several parking garages, Sara. The mood out here is one of some hesitation about how the next couple of weeks are going to play out. We expect the biggest crowds to show up here, despite all of these security measures taking effect this Thursday or this Thursday, rather, going through the weekend and the rest of the month to be he in the second and third week of March.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Carlos Suarez, thank you so much for your reporting. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, some unexpected political news. George Santos is running for Congress. Yes, that George Santos, the serial fabulist who was expelled from Congress after a series of lies and federal indictments, that George Santos. He was actually in the House chamber last night for the State of the Union because he still has floor privileges. Go figure. He announced he is running for Congress in New York's first congressional district.

Lauren Fox in Washington with the details. I guess my question, Lauren, is really?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it seems that George Santos has not gotten the hint from his Republican colleagues that they are not interested in him coming back. More than 100 Republicans voted to expel him from the House just a few months ago. But he announced last night he is running a primary challenge against one of the New York Republicans who had led the charge to get him out of the House. That person, Nick LaLota of New York's first district.

In a tweet, LaLota made clear he's not afraid of challenging George Santos. George Santos responding, "Pathetic little man. Since you refused to move to the district, I'm coming in hot. LaLota is a Democrat RINO with an abysmal record."

Now, obviously George Santos facing a series of allegations against him, 23 federal charges. He has pleaded not guilty, but this is something, as the fabricator, as someone who lied about his resume, as someone who is now facing these charges, it's going to be hard to beat LaLota in a primary, but George Santos making a little news last night at the State of the Union.

BERMAN: All right, Lauren Fox, thank you very much. Great to see you.

A new magical hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden is hitting the road to take his fiery message from last night directly to voters today.

SIDNER: While the president is doing that, the former president Donald Trump welcoming the far-right authoritarian prime minister of Hungary and key Putin ally to Mar-a-Lago. But why is he meeting with Trump instead of the president currently in the White House?

BERMAN: And an army sergeant, prosecutors say, wanted to be a real life Jason Bourne, is now charged with selling classified military secrets to China.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is a special Friday edition of CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Gloves off and game-on, apparently. The word of the night and still this morning seemed to be "fiery." A fiery President Biden delivering his State of the Union address. And the heat continues today as he takes his message on the road. Biden heads to Pennsylvania very soon, and we're going to show this map behind me, lighting up 22 states from coast to coast. By the end of this month, someone from the White House will be visiting each one of those states. I think is that a football term, "flooding the zone"? We're going to go with that, as they clearly move into general election mode.

President Biden did not mention Donald Trump by name last night, but made no secret that Trump was a central focus of his message the entire speech. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us, joining us once again. Arlette, what more are you learning about how Biden hopes to keep the fire from last night burnings still today?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden is hoping to build off the momentum from last night's State of the Union address, appearing today in the battleground of Pennsylvania. But his campaign is also arguing that they've already seen signs that the president's fiery message was resonating with voters. A campaign official tells me that those two hours during in which the president delivered his speech, 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on the east coast last night, were actually the most lucrative fundraising hours that they've seen online since this campaign launched in April. It is just one of those signs that the Biden campaign points to for how the presidents message is resonating with voters, specifically grassroots donors as well.

But the president really went into this speech trying to lay out his vision for a second term, but more importantly, really trying to present a contrast with warmer President Donald Trump. He never mentioned him by name, simply referring to him as his predecessor about a dozen times, and really trying to lay out the stakes of this election when it comes to democracy, protecting freedoms, and also reproductive rights.

[08:05:02]

Take a little bit of the message the president had about his predecessor last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My predecessor on some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6th. I will not do that. This is a moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies. Here's the simple truth -- you can't love your country only when you win. I will not demonize immigrants saying they are poisoning the blood of our country.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: I will not separate families.

My predecessor told the NRA he's proud he did nothing on guns when he was president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president also had some moments where he directly tangled with Republicans on issues like border security and taxes. Those impromptu moments at times when he was heckled by Republicans, those are the types of moments where the president's advisers believe he shines, showing that he is willing to engage in those fights. The president also tackled head on the concerns about his age, trying to defuse it with a bit of humor while arguing that this campaign is not about someone's age. But whether they're presenting old ideas.

Now today, the president will hit the trail, taking this message directly to the voters. That'll be in the critical suburbs of the Philadelphia area. You'll have Vice President Harris out west and Arizona and Nevada. The president tomorrow heading down to Georgia, and they're fanning out administration officials throughout the month of march, really trying to promote the policies of the Biden administration.

Of course, the president will be out there trying to bring that direct contrast with Trump. I imagine when he's in a campaign setting, he might be saying Trump's name more directly. But really, time will tell how much this strategy is resonating with voters as polls has recently shown that he's in a very close contest, a hypothetical contest at this point, against the former president in November.

BOLDUAN: Arlette, thank you so much, Arlette Saenz from the White House for us.

Republicans trying to highlight -- trying to highlight the speech as well for very different reasons. SIDNER: That is true. And in contrast, the Republican presidential

nominee and frontrunner, almost, Donald Trump, welcoming a key Putin ally to his Mar-a-Lago home, the far-right prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban. The meeting comes as other European leaders worry about Trump's possible return to the White House and what that might mean to the NATO alliance and ultimately the war in Ukraine.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is joining me now. What do we know that this meeting and why, why now?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Trump's team is painting this as a quote-unquote, social meeting. That's what one senior adviser told me. Now I asked for more details and they said it is a friendly meeting, nothing official, with no agenda. Betsy Klein over at the White House just learned that there was no official invitation from this White House, and we've also learned that Orban didn't request to meet with Joe Biden or anyone from the administration.

On the Trump side, there is a lot of significance against now, because one, Donald Trump is the former president hosting a world leader who is not meeting with the current president. Two, as you mentioned, he is now the presumptive GOP nominee. He could be a world leader again. And this gives us some insight into how Donald Trump wants to run the country. Donald Trump has long been a fan of a strongman, which Viktor Orban is. He has said and rallies, I'm going to read one thing he said, "Some people don't like him because he's too strong. But it's nice to have a strong man in control of the country." He has praised him for his various policies, and the two seem to be playing out of the same political playbook.

Now, what we expect today, closed-door meeting, told that they might release some photos, they might give us some sort of readout. But again, this really gives you an idea of where Trump is aligning himself if he is to get elected again in November.

SIDNER: The thing about saying there is no agenda, there is always an agenda when two people of this caliber meet one another. We will see what that is at this plays out. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for your reporting. John?

BERMAN: So what can the president's State of the Union address do to energize Democrats for the 2024 election? We will ask the highest ranking Democrat in America who was not on the podium.

So your cat video is in jeopardy because of real fears over China. Congress takes a huge step toward kicking TikTok off your phone.

And in-between college classes, a student won a congressional primary. Will you have to skip his senior year to go to Capitol Hill?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When America gets knocked down, we get back up. (APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: We keep going. That's America.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: That's you, the American people. It's because of you America is coming back. It's because of you that our future is bright. It's because of you that tonight, we can proudly say the state of our union is strong and getting stronger.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So this morning, Democratic hand, feet, and voices must be tired after all the standing ovations and cheering last night. Republican feet and voices probably less so.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joins me now. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. Before the address, White House officials were previewing all the energy that President Biden would show. After the speech, the Democratic reviews were all about the energy that President Biden showed in the speech. Why is it so important to point out the energy?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, it's infectious. I walked into that room. I've been to a whole lot of these speeches, but I was so excited by how Biden presented himself and what he said.

[08:15:00]

The speech showed that America is strong and Biden is strong, and anyone who sat in that room would have no doubt that Biden is ready for a great second campaign and even more, a great second term.

He was filled with focus and enthusiasm for doing the things he truly believes in, helping the middle class, making America strong, and the contrast with Trump, Trump who wants to give in to Putin; Trump, and he said it directly without mentioning Trump's name, who lied about the election.

When he mentioned lying about the election, you should have seen the Republicans faces in the room, they all looked down. They were sullen. They were sullen the whole speech, but they knew he was telling the truth and they were going along with the big lie.

So the contrast, the strength and the focus on the middle class, we, Democrats walked out of that room exhilarated.

This is the Joe Biden we know. This is the Joe Biden, we're going to see over the next six months on the campaign trail, and this is the Joe Biden we're going to govern with in a Democratic House, Democratic Senate, Democratic president in 2025.

I'm still enthusiastic this morning, as I can seem to tell.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it that Joe Biden, as you say, that you feel has been missing or Democrats feel has been missing in the last weeks and months?

SCHUMER: Joe Biden is intent on governing and governing well, and in his three years, as you know, he's had a record. The amount of accomplishments, I might add, helped by our Senate Majority that he has had are enormous.

But when you focus on governing, you're focusing on governing. We're now at a time when we know who the Republican nominee is, it is Donald Trump. We know we're only six months away from an election and you're going to see the Joe Biden -- we've seen this Joe Biden before.

I saw him when I was a young House member, I saw it when I was in the Senate through the years before I became leader. And we know this is the Joe Biden, when he goes out on the campaign trail is great.

BERMAN: Yes.

SCHUMER: So I don't have any problems with what he has done...

BERMAN: So --

SCHUMER: ... creating a great record, and now campaigning on it.

BERMAN: So campaigning on it is exactly the criticism that he is getting from some about this speech, because this was a State of the Union address, which is a constitutional responsibility, not a campaign responsibility, and Republicans took issue with that.

Mike Johnson called it an overly partisan speech, Senator Eric Schmitt said perhaps the most divisive State of the Union I've ever seen. Tom Emmer, one of the most divisive State of the Union addresses in history; Gary Palmer --

SCHUMER: Divisive?

BERMAN: I came to the State of the Union speech and walked away -- walked into a campaign speech from Biden.

SCHUMER: Divisive?

BERMAN: Go ahead.

SCHUMER: Divisive coming from the Republican House, which has been the most divisive body we've seen in decades. When all Democrats are united. Give me a break.

They had nothing to say. They couldn't criticize the speech. They couldn't get up and do their usual histrionics because it was so powerful, so strong, so aimed on -- so aimed at the money what the American middle class needs, that they had virtually no answers. Please, give me a break. They didn't have a real criticism, so they call it political or

divisive, Pot calling the kettle black, the Republican House members calling Joe Biden divisive. Give me a break.

BERMAN: You don't think there is a line between a political speech and a presidential speech?

SCHUMER: That speech had more substance on what the president has done, on how the economy is going, on how he wants to conduct the Ukraine war, on how he wants to deal with the major issues, and then on what he wants to do than most other speeches.

Yes, it was strong. Yes, Joe Biden showed himself fully in command and able to handle any of the Republican cat calls, the silly cat calls that they had, but it was not. It live lived up to all of the constitutional responsibilities.

BERMAN: ... calling on all members of Congress to not fight about it, but to fix it. You're a realist. You know what can and can't happen. Is there any chance to get this bipartisan bill back on track?

SCHUMER: I hope so, because as you know, I encouraged it and I think it's a great bill.

The Democrats have put together a bipartisan bill, we in the Senate, that generally had Republican support, and look who supported it, John, you know who. The fount of hard right conservatism in America,. "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page did two or three editorials listing all the reasons this was a good bill.

The Border Patrol Union, conservative, right-wing pro-Republican, pro- Trump supported this bill. The Chamber of Commerce, the business community supported this bill, because it's a bill that is strong and tough.

And frankly, I think we have a chance to get it because you know why? We're now on our front foot on immigration. We have said we will do something tough and strong that critics say will work and what do the Republicans do? They first say, oh, yes, this is a good tough bill.

Donald Trump comes out, he almost got gave us a gift. He said, I don't want this to happen because I want to save it for the election next year. I want to see chaos at the border.

[08:20:07]

Donald Trump and the Republican Party who say the border is a crisis now say let it hang out that way a year for political advantage. American people aren't going to buy it.

BERMAN: Let me ask you --

SCHUMER: So, we are going to keep pushing this issue and I think we can succeed.

BERMAN: Let me ask you about Donald Trump here in a way. The Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is someone you have had a working

relationship for years and you have a personal relationship with.

SCHUMER: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: Senator McConnell, despite some serious differences with Donald Trump just came out and endorsed his campaign for president. How do you feel about that?

SCHUMER: Look, I'm not going to second guess Leader McConnell. He has said a lot of things that Republicans had to hear, particularly on how Donald Trump didn't see -- how Donald Trump didn't steal the election, how we had to make sure that the electoral process went forward at those dark days on January 6, when the insurrectionists -- and I was glad Joe Biden made no mistake about it -- those were insurrectionists, not tourists.

Mitch McConnell stood up for the right thing to do. But you know, I'm not going to agree with most things he does, and I don't agree with that one.

BERMAN: Do you feel like he had to endorse Donald Trump? Continue taking a stand?

SCHUMER: You would have to -- I'm not going to second guess Mitch. You go ask him.

BERMAN: All right, Senator Chuck Schumer from New York. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Have a great weekend.

SCHUMER: It's a happy great morning.

BERMAN: Thank you -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Exuberant, Chuck Schumer. Good job, John.

Coming up for us, an Army sergeant accused of selling military secrets to China, prosecutors say it was all driven by a desire to be a real live Jason Bourne.

And a mother's desperate plea to save her baby. That plea answered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:30]

BOLDUAN: A US Army sergeant is accused of selling government secrets to China for $42,000.00.

Prosecutors say 24-year-old, Korbein Schultz said he wanted to be a real life Jason Bourne, and this has been a strange couple of weeks of similar headlines.

His indictment comes after -- it comes just days after federal prosecutors charged a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was sharing classified information on a foreign dating site you'll likely remember.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon with more on this.

Natasha, what are you learning about this new indictment?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kate, this is an Army sergeant, as you said, who was also an intelligence analyst with the 506th Infantry Battalion, and he apparently developed a relationship with someone who is only known as Conspirator A in these charging documents, but who was posing, or at least was saying that they were a foreign national living in Hong Kong.

And over the course of over a year, this individual was selling classified information and classified documents according to prosecutors to this individual and those documents largely related, interestingly, to the war in Ukraine.

This individual, Conspirator A allegedly a foreign national, he was asking Korbein Schultz, who is this Army sergeant for information relating to advanced American weapons systems and interestingly, information related to the lessons that the US has learned from supporting Ukraine and its war against Russia that could then be applied to supporting Taiwan against a potential invasion by China.

And so this was according to prosecutors, a really developed scheme here in which ultimately, Korbein Schultz was paid $42,000.00 for these documents that he was providing to this foreign national.

Over the course of a year, those payments got larger and larger, according to which kinds of documents he would be providing. This handler, Conspirator A, he was asking for more and more secret information that he could then use for his own purposes.

And so what we're learning, of course, is that this appear to be motivated simply by money. And also, apparently by ego, as you said he wanted to be Jason Bourne, and he also made reference to needing to get back his BMW.

And so a lot at play here, but as you said, this does come just days after other individuals were charged with leaking classified information to foreign nationals, including on a dating site, and of course, just days after Jack Teixeira, who leaked all of that classified information online pleaded guilty to doing so and is going to be sentenced very soon for that -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Natasha, it's like the compounding nature of it, one after another and each just as strange as the next of what's motivating people allegedly, to do this. That is so scary.

Thank you so much for bringing us the reporting -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: How is the American economy doing? We're moments away from seeing another key indicator, the Jobs Report. We'll have instant analysis as soon as those numbers drop.

And TikTok ready to fight to stay on your phone. Why? Because Congress is pushing ahead with the bill that could lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok. We'll discuss ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]