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Any Moment: Trump Speaks At Campaign Stop In Michigan; WAPO: Vance In 2020 Said Trump "Failed To Deliver" On His Economic Plan; Mortgage Rates Drop To Lowest Level In 2 Years. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:09]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Moments from now, former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at the first of two campaign stops in the critical battleground state of Michigan today. You can see RFK Jr. currently at the podium. It all comes after his closed door meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in New York. Here they are, ahead of the meeting, talking about ending Russia's war in Ukraine. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled and get it worked out. It has to end. At some point it has to end. He's gone through hell, and his country has gone through hell like few countries have never like it's happened anywhere. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: For more on this, let's get right to CNN Steve Contorno in Walker, Michigan. Steve, Trump is in the Grand Rapids area, an important region, of course, in the last two presidential elections. What are you seeing there?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: You're right, Danny. The Grand Rapids area, is a purple part of this purple state, the county that Trump is speaking in today, Kent County, is one that he won eight years ago by four points. However, he hasn't when you look at, excuse me, in 2020 he actually lost it to Biden by six points, and this is a challenge for the Trump campaign going forward.

They are concerned about the fact that this is an area where Nikki Haley got about one-third of the votes when you look at the Republican primary earlier this year. So that is one of the challenges they have, is that it is a much more moderate Republican Party than the rest of the state. And I was actually had the opportunity yesterday to walk some neighborhoods with a Republican candidate for Congress up here, Paul Hudson.

And there were -- there were houses where you had a Trump flag outside the door. There were houses right next door that had Harris-Walz signs on their doorstep and clearly showing that this is a purple region. And he actually had a conversation with one voter who said, you know, he approached him and said, you know, what -- what is your party? And he said, I'm a Republican. He said, no, thank you.

This was a swing voter that they had identified, that they hoped they could sway. And this person said, essentially, look, Republicans are -- I'm not in -- I'm not interested in that whole Trump thing. So clearly demonstrating some of the -- the headwinds they are facing in this important region. Trump will address them just moments from now on the stage and try to make his pitch to win this region back just as he did in 2016.

FREEMAN: Steve Contorno, thank you very much for that update. Appreciate it. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As former President Trump campaigns in Michigan, we are learning about newly uncovered direct messages from 2020 by his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance. According to these messages obtained by the Washington Post, Vance gave a candid critique of Trump's first term. He wrote in February of 2020 that quote, Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism except a disjointed China policy, end quote.

In another message from June of that year, Vance said he believed Joe Biden would win the election. Writing quote, I think Trump will probably lose. CNN has reached out to Vance's folks to verify the authenticity of the messages and to seek comment on their contents.

Joining me now to discuss is Dana Milbank, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. He's also the author of a new book called "Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House." Metaphorically speaking, I think, in many other cases --

DANA MILBANK, WASHINGTON POST SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Right. It's not quite the Reichstag just -- just yet.

KEILAR: That's right. So OK, Dana, I do want to talk about some of the details of the House, which we'll delve into in a moment, but let's talk about Vance. He's a senator, the more civilized chamber of Congress. But when you see some of the stuff playing out on the trail, childless cat ladies, baseless allegations of migrants eating cats and dogs, do you see that as a close relative of the dysfunction that you detail so vividly in this book?

MILBANK: They're absolutely twins. There's -- there's no question about it. I mean, J.D. Vance talking about a failure to produce for Donald Trump. Well, a failure to produce, I mean, we -- we've now run the numbers. This Congress is almost over. It is on track to be the least productive the Do Nothing as Congress since 1860. And of course, I mean, you have to take my word for it. You can hear them calling each other lunatics and clowns, you know, even Marjorie Taylor Greene, I don't get to say this often. She says we have completely failed as a Republican majority.

You now, Mike Lawler from New York says, you keep running lunatics, you're going to wind up in this situation. So they have -- they've been entirely unproductive. Now, from my point of view, I -- I -- I'd rather see them be unproductive, because the agenda that they've had is, you know, when you look at the actual votes they have, it's a lot like Project 2025, it's abolish the Education Department. It's restore the Confederate General's names on military bases. It's most of them are opposed to aid to Ukraine and so on down the line.

[14:35:20]

KEILAR: They seem frustrated by their lack of ability to produce, to govern, to produce some results. But when you look at what they have produced, the drama is pretty astounding. And -- and a lot of that you go through George Santos, the Lauren Boebert Beetlejuice, vaping and groping episode. The Speaker raised drama that we all watched on T.V. What do you attribute as the cause of the House of Representatives, kind of becoming a reality show and one that is more akin to like, you know, like a Love Island --

MILBANK: Right.

KEILAR: -- or even a sort of a Tiger King, than a more respectable docu style?

MILBANK: And you've also -- you've left out the refrigerator, Freedom Act and the gas stove, Protection Act, which they were able to pass. You know, this has been building up for a while. That's why I say, like when Trump is gone this doesn't -- whenever Trump is gone, if he's ever gone, this doesn't necessarily change. It's been, you know, iteration after iteration, election after election, and it's because the Republican primaries are structured.

Look, only a couple of dozen seats in the House are ever in place. So people are chosen in -- in primaries exclusively. And within the Republican Party, they have twice as many conservatives as there are progressives in the Democratic Party. So whereas moderates still hold sway in the Democratic Party, they've -- the moderates have lost control of the Republican Party.

So, you know, that Tom Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, member of the House, said in trying to figure out who are these voters voting for, and he finally realized they're voting for the craziest SOB in the race. That's just a structural problem, that this tiny sliver of a very far right minority has outsized power in -- in turning these people to Washington.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean you have a perspective, right? You have a perspective. You're liberal, but I hear some of the things that you are saying echoed by Republicans. They're making some of the same observations about what you were saying here about this type of Republican that has become so prominent in the House of Representatives. You offer a pretty stark warning for the future. You say voters ought to know that this is what they would get if they return MAGA Republicans to power, the chaos, the conspiracy theories, the lies, the constant cultural and political warfare. What do you think the next four years could look like depending on different outcomes? MILBANK: I'm -- I'm worried enough about the next two months of what they will look like. I mean, we have a sign, because you can see the, you know, singular control Donald Trump has over the party, right? You've seen it in the -- the spending battle just this week. He insisted that they had to put this legislation in involving elections. You saw it with the border security bill. You're seeing it in the constant inability to produce.

But look, I mean, it -- it appears the Senate may well wind up being Republican if Donald Trump wins the presidency, which is certainly not out of the realm of possibility and entirely possible Republicans keep the House. It's an entirely different ballgame. Then it's, I mean, we can all sit back and say, well, isn't this amusing that, you know, so many votes for keeping Confederate names on military bases. But when this actually becomes policy, when it's no longer theoretical, that's an entirely different situation.

KEILAR: Next book not having to do with politics as I understand it?

MILBANK: Please. Yes. I'm -- I'm escaping this town.

KEILAR: Well, it's on nature, is that --

MILBANK: I'm going to head off into the country?

KEILAR: All right. Well, I can't wait to see your astute observations in that regard. This is the book "Fools on the Hill." Very interesting stuff. Dana Milbank, thank you so much.

MILBANK: Thank you very much.

[14:38:56]

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

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FREEMAN: We have breaking news out of Tennessee. We're hearing reports of people stranded on a hospital roof in Erwin, Tennessee, that's just east of Knoxville as dangerous floodwaters surround the building. Michael Baker sent us these photos. He's the alderman in the town of Erwin, Tennessee. He's joining me now on the phone. Michael, thank you so much for joining us. Can you please tell me about the rescue efforts underway as we look at these dramatic images you took?

MICHAEL BAKER, ALDERMAN IN ERWIN, TN: Thank you. Yes. This is a definitely team regional effort. We currently have -- we believe we have five helicopters in route. There's two here currently from the state of Virginia, or Commonwealth of Virginia, and they're currently taking patients and staff off of the roof of the hospital and then transporting them back into the city of Erwin, where they're unloaded and then, of course, brought back so they can get as many people off as possible.

FREEMAN: Michael, so again, we're looking at these photos you took. It looks like the flood waters really came in quite quickly there. Did this -- were you expecting flooding of this magnitude?

BAKER: Absolutely not, no. So it is kind of the standard in Erwin that there was a flood in 77 and after that, the Army Corps engineers came in and fixed the berm and that the river would stay in its banks forever. Well, this is a once in a lifetime storm, for sure. I've been monitoring the white water site, monitoring the CFS, which is cubic feet per second, is how as whitewater people would measure the water, and we believe that it broke at over 93,000 CFS.

[14:45:11]

This is unprecedented. We were definitely expecting, you know, the 60,000 CFS, which is -- which was projected from NOAA. But at 93,000 it broke. And other whitewater people here with me, we're -- we're guessing that we're well over 100,000 CFS, which is cubic feet per second. I'm currently looking at the hospital. There's a helicopter on top of the hospital, and we have another one hovering nearby to -- to, you know, start the carousel, getting everybody off. But this is a team effort.

I've been on the phone with Bill Lee's team, the governor of Tennessee, and then, of course, our U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger's office, and U.S. Senator Hagerty's office. Everybody has really come together to make this happen. This rescue effort happened because, like you said, this is not expected, no means. And I was helping Blue Ridge Paddling help, which is a rafting company here, to get their rafts out. And the water came up so fast, I literally looked at the owner and said, we've got to get out of here.

So, I mean, this is a serious situation. We have -- I have not heard of any reports of any casualties, but I would dare to say this is a life and death situation. This is very serious.

FREEMAN: Yes. It certainly looks like it. And really quickly, Michael, just because we have to go in a moment, but can you just tell me I -- I -- I understood there were as many as maybe 50 patients and staff up on that hospital roof. How many are there? Can you ballpark it now?

BAKER: I cannot, no. There were over 60 on the roof. And I'm currently looking now we have four helicopters circling around the hospital, so I would dare to say there's probably still at least 50 up there right now.

FREEMAN: Wow. All right. Well, we're hoping that all the people up there are able to get to safety, and that you and your community are able to recover from this, hopefully with no injuries. Michael Baker, Alderman, in the town of Erwin, Tennessee, thank you so much for giving us that update. Appreciate it.

BAKER: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Still ahead, positive reaction from the markets today after a key gage of inflation showed that prices are falling. Will this potentially set the stage for the Fed to keep cutting interest rates? We'll discuss all that coming up next.

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[14:51:54]

FREEMAN: New today, inflation is inching closer to the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. The Fed's favorite inflation gauge shows prices rose just 2.2 percent in August, down from July. It's another sign price pressures are easing, which could lead to more interest rate cuts. More on this, let's bring in CNN business editor at large, Richard Quest. Richard, how close are we to seeing more rate cuts?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: As close as you can possibly get without them actually doing it. At the last Fed meeting, we got the dot plot. Remember, that's the thing with all the little dots that shows where the members think interest rates will be. Well, the dot plot showed that there's going to be probably two more rate cuts before the end of the year. The next meeting is the day after the general election, the presidential election.

So this number confirms the Fed's view. Inflation is coming down as it wants. It's now well and truly in the zone. They can continue to cut rates. I -- look, I'm not particularly a betting man, but I might put a cup of coffee on it, being definite.

FREEMAN: All right, I'll -- I'll take that bet for a cup of coffee. But Richard, we're also seeing consumer sentiment improving, with a 3.2 percent jump in September, the biggest since May, how much of that is tied to this slowing of inflation?

QUEST: Oh, totally. It -- it -- it's tied to slowing of inflation. It's tied to better economic performance. It is tied to the wealth effect from the stock market, which is hitting record highs. And as the unemployment numbers start to moderate, people feel better. It's a bit of a double edged sword, Danny, you've careful with consumer sentiment. A, it's a really nebulous type of number. But more importantly, if sentiments strong, people go and spend that boost inflation.

So you take it with a pinch of salt. I wouldn't put too much store by the sentiment number. It's the inflation number that the Fed is going to look at. Yes, I'll buy you the coffee when inflate -- when they cut rates, which is probably going to happen the day after the November election.

FREEMAN: All right. You'll buy me the coffee, but hold the salt, at least for now. Yesterday, though, Richard, we learned that mortgage rates, they also felt their lowest late -- rate since 2022. What does that mean for the housing market? That's got to be good news, right?

QUEST: You know, it's a virtuous cycle. It's going because, yes, as interest rates come down, so people start to buy more, it's a mixed blessing. Don't forget one thing, important thing, Danny, we talk about interest rates coming down, that's great for house buyers and for those who've got debt. It's not so good for those who've got savings, the elderly and the like, who will get less.

But if you're looking to buy a house, if you're moving up the ladder on the housing ownership, this is good news because it means rates are coming down and more young people, more couples, will be able to get them single people as well. In fact, everybody will be able to get themselves on the housing ladder. It is -- it's only those who have got savings that will notice a reduction in the amount of interest that they get. Remember, it's always winners and losers when it comes to interest rates.

[14:55:06]

FREEMAN: All right. Richard Quest, thank you so much for breaking that all down. Really appreciate it. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Truck drivers waiting in these long lines in New Jersey believe that port workers are deliberately slowing down as longshoremen are set to strike over wages and other issues next Tuesday. The International Longshoremen's Association walkout would be the most disruptive in decades as it could stop the flow of a wide variety of goods at almost all cargo ports on the east and Gulf coasts. The administration, the Biden administration, is urging the two sides to negotiate in good faith.

The U.S. government providing free COVID tests again, just as the nation heads into respiratory virus season with high levels of the coronavirus already circulating, each household can get up to four at home test kits, which can be requested from covidtests.gov, they will be shipped starting next week.

And the acting world and many more, mourning the passing of one of the greats, two time Oscar winner, Maggie Smith, died at the age of 89 today, her sons announced, through her publicist. The British actress began performing in the 1950s she was most recently known, of course, for her roles in the "Harry Potter" movies and "Downton Abbey" series. And she'll be missed.

When we come back, New York's Mayor makes his first appearance in federal court on corruption charges. How he's responding to the growing pressure to resign.

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