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Interview with Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL): John Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator; American Airlines Fined $50 Million for Violating Disability Rules; DOJ Warns Musk His $1 Million Giveaway May Be Illegal. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 23, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

KEILAR: BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today the Trump campaign is adamantly denying new explosive reports that the former president praised Adolf Hitler while he was commander-in-chief. Trump's former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine General, confirmed a report by The Atlantic that cites two sources claiming Trump said during a private White House conversation that he needed, quote, the kind of generals that Hitler had.

Kelly also told the New York Times that he had heard Trump praise the Nazi leader more that once. Claiming that Trump said, quote, Hitler did some good things too.

In that same recorded interview with The Times, Kelly also warned that the former president would rule as a dictator. Here's part of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KELLY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators -- he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Trump campaign released a statement rejecting the report saying that Kelly, quote: Totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories that he has fabricated.

Joining us now to discuss is Republican Congressman Michael Waltz of Florida. He is a retired combat decorated Army Special Forces officer who currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee. He's also got this new book out "Hard Truth: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret." And I do want to note the proceeds go to charity here -- the Green Beret Foundation and the Matthew Pacino Foundation.

Thank you so much for coming on to talk to us about this. It's a really critical time in the election and this is obviously a really serious story here. What's your reaction to what Kelly told The Times and The Atlantic that Trump praised Hitler and that he wanted loyalty from the military like they had. REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): You know, it doesn't make sense to me. I find the timing suspicious and it just completely is divorced from the man that I've come to know in Donald Trump and how he's dealt with Gold Star families. How he has been caring. How he's been compassionate. And don't take it from me, take it from the 13 Abbey Gate Gold Star families. Some of who stood on a stage in front of a 30,000 person crowd and said how he helped them heal. He spent hours with them. He promised them transparency.

And these are families that said they had had it up to here with Biden's BS. They couldn't even get a phone call answered much less a meeting. And invited Kamala Harris to Arlington National Cemetery and she didn't come even though she was in Washington that day with no public events on our schedule. So it just like I said it makes no sense to me. It doesn't comport.

[15:35:00]

And on the fascism piece, right, like, I mean, you're saying he's praising Hitler, yet this is a president that has done more for Israel than any president in modern history. Moved our embassy, recognized Golan Heights, signed the Abraham Peace Accords, not once, not twice, but three times on the White House lawn. We're seeing Jewish Americans moving our way in the polling, moving his way in the polling. At the same time, you're seeing these grotesque protests on our college campus, anti-Semitism abounding amongst the left, Jewish students being harassed and feeling unsafe, and none of this comports.

KEILAR: Back to his comments. I mean, what he said on Hitler, this isn't like the first time we've heard some of this. What he said on Hitler has been well-documented, and yes, we've had those families on of the Abbey Gate 13, and they are very appreciative of Trump, and they've made that clear.

But you said the timing is -- you said the timing on this is questionable. What is clear about why Kelly has said this now, or really reiterated it, confirmed it, is that he has a lot of concerns about Trump talking about this enemy within, this idea of using the American military to target his own political opponents, which is a very un-American idea, and that that is something. That's the timing.

To your timing question, that's the answer there.

WALTZ: Perhaps. I don't know John Kelly. I don't think I've ever even met him. He clearly has a deep disdain for Donald Trump and was fired by him.

You also have the owner of The Atlantic magazine is a huge donor for Kamala Harris and a close personal friend, so I find that incredibly interesting.

And on this kind of enemies within, what President Trump actually said was if we have national unrest, if we have riots, if we have people, law and order is broken down, then it is completely appropriate to use the military. The National Guard has been used throughout our history.

KEILAR: Congressman, he's talked about -- he has named the Pelosi's -- Congressman, he has named your colleague Adam Schiff.

WALTZ: You had Adam Schiff on this network and many others lying to the American people, opening a hearing lying to the American people --

KEILAR: Whatever --

WALTZ: -- he's saying that he had seen, but you raised him. And saying he had seen --

(CROSSTALK)

WALTZ: -- saying he had seen evidence of Russian collusion that proved to be false. And our country was in total chaos for two years on a hoax --

KEILAR: Whatever -- Congressman --

WALTZ: -- which also affected our relationship with Russia. So that is an enemy within.

And I don't think that he said that he's going to use the military to target him. He said in one part of the conversation, we have to quell riots and keep law and order, and if the military needs to support law enforcement, fine. And on the other hand, he said we have people that are misleading the American public, that's causing chaos.

KEILAR: I just want to be clear, he's talked about the National Guard, and then he talked about the military.

WALTZ: But let's go back to -- let's go back to this notion of fascism and centralized control, because we have an allegation of rhetoric, we have, you know, he said versus he said. And then what I'm seeing are actual actions by the progressive left. I mean, fascism really is about no checks and balances, no controls.

They want to stack the Supreme Court, I've seen that legislation. They want to eliminate the filibuster, our last kind of harbinger of bipartisanship. They want to eliminate the Electoral College, which would have just a couple of cities determining our next president.

Those are critical checks and balances that will check power for anyone, and the left is actually moving to eliminate them because they don't like him.

So what I think voters are going to have to decide in these next couple of weeks is we have allegations of rhetoric from a conversation four years ago, or actions that they are seeing right now from the left or the lack of action in terms of making their lives better in the economy and crime and the border and in global chaos. And I think it's those actions that they're going to be voting on or the lack thereof.

KEILAR: I was interested to talk to you today about this because of your book. I mean, when you when you go when you go through it, I haven't been able to read the whole thing. I've perused it because I just got it today, this morning. But your book is about leadership through the prism of what you've learned as a Green Beret. You're the first Green Beret in Congress. You talk about restraint. You talk about truth to power. You talk about pushing back on Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates. That is not what Trump is talking about right now.

He's talking about targeting his political opponents.

WALTZ: No, but let's talk about --

KEILAR: He's talking about using the American military. He's not -- he's talking about not wanting people to speak truth to power. That's not what you are detailing here in your book.

[15:40:00]

WALTZ: No, no, no, no. He's talked about eliminating -- him and Elon Musk, eliminating censorship and letting Americans speak. He's talked about building the best, best military in the world that we never have to use.

He showed restraint. Modern day -- let's talk about Iran.

KEILAR: He's fine with some censorship.

WALTZ: On Iran, our shipping was hit, our drone was shot down, Saudi Aramco was hit. Restraint, restraint, restraint. John Bolton was losing his mind that he wanted to hit Iran so hard.

It wasn't until we lost an American and they stormed our embassy that he had a targeted application of power and took out Soleimani and restored stability and peace. That's what I'm talking about, restraint. And he absolutely showed it and has shown it because we literally had peace deals being signed on the White House lawn of the Abraham Accords and the Jewish state and Jewish Americans celebrating President Trump for that. Doesn't sound like a Hitler to me.

KEILAR: There were some American deaths after that. We've talked about that before in our conversation.

WALTZ: I didn't say that Iraq turned into Switzerland, but we're not seeing ballistic missiles flying between Israel and Iran. You can't compare the two, Brianna.

KEILAR: Congressman, thank you so much for being with us and good luck with the new book. We do appreciate you being here.

WALTZ: OK, Thank you. Thanks, appreciate it.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: New today, the Department of Transportation is fining American Airlines $50 million for repeatedly breaking the rules around passengers with disabilities. The agency alleges the airline treated people in wheelchairs in an unsafe and undignified way and that it's not the only airline to do so.

KEILAR: CNN's Pete Muntean has the details on this. What's going on here?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a really big win for disabilities rights advocates. But the story really far from over with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg saying all airlines have been mishandling wheelchairs for too long. And American Airlines has been one of the worst offenders.

This was highlighted in a TikTok that surfaced last year and it shows American Airlines baggage handlers at Miami International Airport. You can see the wheelchair that they drop down the chute that is typically used for baggage. Now, the Department of Transportation says this is only one of thousands of cases that it uncovered between 2019 and 2023, not only of abused wheelchairs, but also cases of disabled passengers who were not treated properly by the airline.

A passenger in a wheelchair told investigators that American Airlines treated her, quote, like cargo. The result, American Airlines is now facing the largest fine of its type. American will pay $25 million to the U.S. Treasury. On top of that, the government is mandating Americans spend $25 million on internal improvements, new technology and new training. So this does not keep happening. American insists it's already spent millions trying to course correct.

And the airline even says its rating when it comes to handling wheelchairs and scooters has improved 20 percent over the last two years. Here's the statement from American Airlines.

It says, quote, Despite these improvements, there are instances where the service the airline provides is disrupted, untimely or results in harm to the passenger or their equipment. American takes all these complaints and claims seriously and works hard to remediate them.

That apology might not be the only one we will get from major airlines. The Department of Transportation says it is investigating similar violations at other U.S. airlines. The bottom line here is that this really sets the precedent. And Buttigieg says this fine needs to be big enough so airlines simply cannot consider this the cost of doing normal business.

SANCHEZ: Wow. That was an eye opening video. And I'm curious as to what other airlines might potentially face fines.

MUNTEAN: Well, the big deal here is that this is about twenty five times bigger than any previous fine for something like this. The video is really incredible. And it just shows -- remember, you know, these wheelchairs can be incredibly expensive. This is not like a $185 wheelchair that you're going to get from a pharmacy or a CVS or Kaiser or what have you. Some of these wheelchairs can -- especially custom ones -- can cost in the thousands. This is really lighting up online right now. And people simply want to know how airlines can get away with this. We get data from the Department of Transportation pretty much every month about when they have mishandled wheelchairs.

But essentially, the bottom line here is that this has gone on for too long. It kind of became background noise in the industry. And the Department of Transportation really wants to deal with this, along with help from the Department of Justice. It got help from a special unit of the Department of Justice to try and investigate these things. So they're really trying to make it so that other airlines don't do this, that this is bar none. They cannot can't keep doing this.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Glad that it's front and center once more. Pete Muntean, thanks so much for bringing us that story.

Just into CNN, sources tell us that the Justice Department has warned Elon Musk that his $1 million giveaway to registered voters may be illegal. Details in just a few minutes.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: This just in to CNN, sources telling us the Justice Department has warned Elon Musk that his million-dollar giveaway to registered voters in battleground states may be illegal.

SANCHEZ: As we've noticed since this took place over the weekend, federal law makes it a crime to pay people to vote or register to vote, and even the folks who receive financial compensation for it might be legally liable. CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is covering this story for us. What more do we know?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that -- the America PAC got a letter from the Justice Department. This is the public integrity section, which oversees election law and would be the one that would investigate something like this.

Now, what we don't know is whether the way the sweepstakes are currently structured, whether that is still a violation of the law, because there's been some change in the way they're at least talking about it, they're at least marketing it.

On the second day of the sweepstakes, one of the things that the PAC reframed its messaging on this, they said that this was essentially a million dollars for a job, a payment for a job, essentially trying to change it away from a direct relationship to registering to vote. And they also said that you don't have to even vote. You could be registered to vote as a Democrat or Republican, again, trying to see if they can stay within the bounds of the law.

Now, again, we don't know whether this will satisfy the critics because you've seen concerns not only from election law experts, you've seen concerns from the governor of Pennsylvania that this does run afoul of the law. [15:55:00]

But you can see that they're trying to find ways -- Elon Musk is trying to find ways in the way he's responding to this, that he wants to try to make sure that it is within the four corners of the law.

KEILAR: Feels a little bit like flailing, though. So we'll see.

PEREZ: They keep giving away these million dollar prizes. So we'll see whether it continues up to Election Day.

KEILAR: All right, Evan Perez, thank you for the latest on that.

Still ahead, Goldfish, all grown up. How those crackers are getting a rebrand to try to appeal to older snackers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: What's in a name? Well, Pepperidge Farms is hoping that it's enough to hook some new customers. It's Goldfish Crackers are getting a one week only rebrand as Chilean Sea Bass.

Are they fooling anyone, though? Starting today, you can buy them online with the same look and taste, just a different name there on the package.

SANCHEZ: It's a marketing stunt and it's part of a strategy to bait adults. No word yet on what millions of toddlers may be saying about this, but the crackers are far from floundering. Their sales are actually up. They're even getting a new facility in Utah to bake more than five million goldfish an hour.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll just have to wait and see the scale of the success. You see what I what I did there?

SANCHEZ: Love it. Love a good pun.

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: So the thing about it is they can completely do this because most of the enjoyers of their product, they can't probably read anyways.

SANCHEZ: That's a good point. Why Chilean sea bass, though? I feel like there are other fish that I would personally be more interested in.

KEILAR: Oh, what do you want? Like trout crackers? Or, I don't know.

SANCHEZ: Tuna Crackers.

KEILAR: Tuna crackers? We got to up your game. Salmon crackers?

SANCHEZ: Hey, listen, I don't know if you've heard, there's a huge town hall happening about five hours from now on CNN with Vice President Harris. You're going to want to tune in for that. And, of course, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper, which starts right now.

END