Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Turmoil Intensifies on Capitol Hill as Trump Pushes His Agenda; Trump Shifts Abortion Position 15 Times Over 25 Years; Biden Admin Finalizes Rule to Close Gun Show Loophole. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 11, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Nine-year-old daughter, Dakota, she knocked down not one, not two, but three long putts.

[07:00:09]

Watch this. If you've ever played golf, you know just how hard it is to sink a putt like that one. Look at her.

Oh my gosh, also this, that's also adorable. Not quite as successful as those long putts, but clearly following in her dad's footsteps. I'd love to see what she does. Oh, if she has a golf career, maybe she could.

All right, thanks to our panel for joining us and thanks to all of you for being with us this morning. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The sun rising over a Capitol in chaos, Republican leaders in the House losing control, with upheaval largely fueled by Donald Trump. We have new reporting from the epicenter of this political earthquake.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The Biden administration moves closer to closing the gun show loophole, enacting a brand new rule that specifically defines what it means to be in the business of selling firearms and stepping up requirements on background checks.

BERMAN: More than 65 million people in the east under a severe storm threat today. Who needs to prepare for dangerous winds and major flood threats?

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN New Central.

New this morning, a web of chaos at home and abroad. Donald Trump is smack in the middle of that web. In fact, in most cases, Donald Trump is spinning the web, our thanks to cnn.com Stephen Collinson for that metaphor.

Although House Speaker Mike Johnson might be saying, no thanks, his grip on power is growing more tenuous by the minute. He faces open revolt over his support for a surveillance bill that Donald Trump helped spike with a social media post that was factually wrong. It will be fun for Speaker Johnson to discuss when he goes to Mar-a-Lago tomorrow.

Also, CNN has learned that European officials are frantically trying to speak to people close to Trump in dark Washington D.C. corners because they're desperate to know what he would actually do if he becomes president again, especially on Ukraine.

And this does not even touch the chaos over abortion caused by the overturning of Roe versus Wade with Republicans in Arizona blocking attempts to change the 1800s near total ban about to go into effect there.

Let's start in Washington on a Congress in chaos, even by its own chaotic standards. CNN's Lauren Fox is with us this morning. Boy, it looks like it's fun in the House right now.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They've been back for three whole days, John, and already another failed procedural vote. This is something that used to be almost unprecedented on Capitol Hill.

It never happened under Nancy Pelosi. It didn't happen under Paul Ryan. It didn't happen under John Boehner. But so far, this Congress, there have been seven failed, what are known as rules votes in the House of Representatives, three under Kevin McCarthy, now four under new Speaker Mike Johnson.

And that is because of these narrow margins, but also because of the reality. You see there, 19 Republicans yesterday voted to advance this bill that the national security community is arguing is pivotal to keeping America safe.

Christopher Wray is expected to say today, I'd be hard pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once. We need all the tools, all the people and all the resources required to tackle these threats and to keep Americans safe.

Now, there is an expiration date coming up on April 19th. This is why Republican leaders were hoping to tackle FISA this week on Capitol Hill. Now, there's uncertainty. They had not just one, but two Republican conference meetings yesterday to try to iron out differences between folks who say that they have concerns about protecting American civil liberties and members who say that these protections, these rules need to stay in place, even if they come with some small reforms. And that has been the case that Mike Johnson has been making to his conference.

Meanwhile, you have Republicans just frustrated with the state of where their party is right now. Here's one of them, Troy Nehls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): All you have to do is say, we've got seven more months to the presidential election. Let's try to not, completely burn the damn place down. Let's not burn the place down. Let's just get Donald Trump to do. That's it, that's what we should focus, that's my focus. We're dysfunctional, we are. It's somewhat embarrassing to make, bite us in the butt a little bit in November.

[07:05:00]

But my focus is Donald J. Trump now because nobody can manage his conference. The Lord Jesus himself could not manage his conference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And we should know that Donald Trump put out a post on Truth Social yesterday morning ahead of this vote, urging members to vote against FISA, so not exactly helping keep Republicans together there.

Tomorrow, we expect that Mike Johnson, the speaker, is going to hold a press conference with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss election security, but you can expect that behind the scenes they're probably going to be discussing a lot more. John?

BERMAN: Yes, they might have a few things they need to discuss. All right, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: That was quite a statement, John. All right, tomorrow we'll get a closer look at all of this when Speaker Johnson heads to Florida to meet with President Donald Trump.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now. Steve, what are the details of this meeting?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, on paper, they are there to talk about election integrity, one of the pet topics and infatuations of Donald Trump, and they will hold a press conference where they will show alignment on this issue.

But, obviously, the timing of this is notable, given everything that the speaker is facing back in Washington, D.C., and also where that heat is coming from. It's coming from specifically Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is someone who is closely aligned with the former president.

Now, allies for Johnson have been working behind the scenes trying to get Donald Trump to support Speaker Johnson or at least stay out of the way, but obviously, he's still meddling in some of these issues with the Ukraine funding, with the FISA reauthorization.

And as we have seen in the past, being aligned with Donald Trump doesn't necessarily help you. Kevin McCarthy was quite close to Donald Trump at times, and yet it was another Trump ally, Matt Gaetz, who took McCarthy down.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you also about Donald Trump and his position on abortion. We heard from him on Monday saying that it should go to the state, but you've looked at sort of the history of what his position has been. Has he flip-flopped a lot? CONTORNO: The only thing consistent about Donald Trump's abortion position is how inconsistent he has been. If you go all the way back to when he first flirted with a political run in 1999, he said he was, quote, very pro-choice.

Fast forward to 2015, 2016, when he was trying to convince Republicans that he could be their standard bearer, suddenly he was an anti- abortion candidate. In fact, he once supported a ban at the federal level at 20 weeks.

Well, now he is running for president again, he's a nominee and he is looking ahead to November. He now says that he would not support -- would not sign into law that ban that he once supported.

So, if you look back at all the statements, we found at least 15 times where he has shifted his position and it has evolved over the years.

Democrats and the Biden campaign saying, don't believe what Donald Trump says. The only thing you can look at is what he has done and what he did was put in the justices in place that helped get rid of Roe v. Wade.

SIDNER: No doubt the Biden campaign is looking at these flip flops and we'll use it in some way. Thank you so much, Steve Contorno, for all your reporting. John?

BERMAN: All right, delays three times denied. Donald Trump's criminal trial will begin on Monday.

So, a major move on gun safety from the Biden administration set to happen today, trying to close the gun show loophole.

And concern over what might be in your child's lunchbox. Yes, new reporting on Lunchables.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, the White House is taking new steps towards closing the so-called gun show loophole. The new rule clarifies who must do background checks on consumers buying firearms and would include sellers at gun shows online and at other informal venues.

The Biden administration says this will help keep guns out of the hands of potentially violent people who are not legally allowed to own firearms.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us now from the White House. When you look at this and what this will do, this has been a huge issue. How many people selling guns would this actually affect in this case?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, White House officials estimate that this new rule could impact more than 20,000 firearm sellers, including firearms sellers who are selling weapons at gun shows online and other venues. This really is a significant step from President Biden and his administration in trying to combat gun violence in this country. Gun violence is an issue that is of concern to many voters, particularly young voters heading into this election.

Now, this new rule, which the Justice Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives started evaluating back in August, it will take effect next month. And what it does is it kind of expands the definition of who would need to register as a federally- licensed firearm dealers.

This will now require those who are, quote, engaged in the business of selling guns for profit. That's a shift in prior language before, really expanding the category of people who would have to run background checks on potential buyers. That would include people who are selling at gun shows, other types of venues and also online.

This doesn't amount to a full-on universal background check, which Democrats have tried to pass in the past but Attorney General Merrick Garland laid this out in very simple terms saying, quote, under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show or at a brick and mortar store. If you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed and you must conduct background checks.

President Biden has pushed for universal background checks for quite some time. But this closing of the so-called gun show loophole really amounts to a significant step from the administration.

[07:15:00]

Now, this is certainly going to face legal challenges going forward, but the Biden administration believes that they are on solid legal ground in this case, because their arguments are rooted in a provision of that bipartisan gun safety law that President Biden signed into law back in 2022 in the months after that horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Now, this is an issue that many young voters we have seen mobilize around. You have seen those protests, the rallies, after these major shootings at school shows. We know that this is something that has galvanized young voters, and so it will be interesting to see how exactly this will play going forward for President Biden, as he and his team are trying to show that they are taking on this issue of gun violence in this country.

SIDNER: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that. We will delve more into that throughout the hour.

Alright, coming up, chaos and confusion in Arizona over an abortion ban that was first put in place in 1864. Why the latest attempt to repeal the century-old law was blocked again last night.

Also Caitlin Clark, she's getting a rare honor to cement her GOAT status.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: This morning, a warning for parents about a popular snack. Consumer Report says Lunchables, especially the type served in schools, contain unhealthy levels of sodium. The watchdog group says they should not be served to students.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is with us now. So what can you tell us about this?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. So, there are two different kinds that Consumer Reports looked at that are being included in the school lunch program, turkey and cheddar and extra cheesy pizza. And what they found is that actually the school versions of Lunchables contain more sodium than the versions that you can buy in the store.

The levels for the turkey and cheddar, 930 milligrams of sodium in the school version, versus 740 in the store version. For pizzas, schools were 700 milligrams and the stores were 510.

As a reminder, the recommended daily limit for sodium for kids under the age of 14 is 1,800 milligrams. And so you're getting quite a lot of sodium there.

Now, in addition to sodium, Consumer Reports looked at 12 different lunch kits, including Lunchables, but also some other brands, including from Oscar Meyer and from Target, at sort of lunch kits that you can buy in the store.

They also looked at levels of lead and cadmium, as well as these chemicals known as phthalates in these lunch kits. They looked at 12 of these. They found all of them had either lead or cadmium or both and all but one had phthalates.

And so they're warning about those, even though they noted that none of the levels of lead or cadmium exceeded federal limits. They just warned that some of them are getting close to half of California's maximum allowed amount, which is one of the most stringent requirements. And so they warned that if you're eating this and then other things throughout the day, that can add up.

And so they warned the combination of sodium in the school lunches that they tested and the warnings about lead and cadmium in the store- bought ones. They are warning about these products, guys.

BERMAN: Meg, it's interesting that the school ones would have more sodium than the ones available in stores, which, by the way, I buy at the airport all the time. The turkey and cheddar one is something that I eat when I get on a plane often, but the ones that kids are getting have more sodium?

TIRRELL: Yes. It probably has to do with the changes that the company had to make to make them fit the nutritional requirements for student lunches. They had to increase protein, for example, so maybe making the protein size bigger. If you're making lunch meat bigger, you're potentially adding more sodium that way.

You know, we did hear back from both the USDA and from Kraft Heinz about this Consumer Reports petition to ask them to remove Lunchables from the school program. The USDA noted that their requirements addressed the overall content of meals, some of them on a daily basis and others on a weekly basis. So, they noted if a school is going to serve a higher sodium meal one day, they've got to balance it out the next day. They also have to offer fruit, veggies and milk, for example.

Kraft Heinz said about Lunchables that all of their foods meet strict safety standards. They say they happily feed them to their own families. They say they're proud of Lunchables and stand by the quality and integrity that goes into making them. And they noted, of course, they've made those tweaks to meet the standards. John?

BERMAN: All right. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for explaining that so well.

So, we are standing by for any reaction from Donald Trump this morning after his latest attempts to delay his hush money, his criminal trial here in New York, have failed.

And a tornado outbreak leaves a path of destruction in the south. Millions of people are on alert for a new round of severe weather today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

SIDNER: We're about an hour away from the release of more inflation data. Wall Street will be watching today's PPI inflation report closely after yesterday's consumer price index signaled bad news for those of us, all of us, hoping to see a slowdown in inflation and a rate cut from the Fed.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now. What are we expecting from today report, because inflation is just being very stubborn?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: It is, Sara. We are bracing for more potential inflation trouble. Today's report measures wholesale inflation. It's inflation that's in the pipeline before it gets to all of us as consumers.

The expectation is it will cool off on a month-to-month basis but accelerate on an annual basis to an 11-month high moving in the wrong direction. And this is just going to feed the sense that this economy and, frankly, the White House they have an inflation problem again, not as severe as the one two years ago but inflation is proving to be harder to conquer than people had anticipated.

[07:30:00]

A lot of economists are throwing around the word, stubborn, some even comparing it to the toddler that is refusing to leave the park.

Yesterday's report was the third in a row that was.