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Sen Judiciary Cmte Hearing On Whether To Advance Patel As FBI Dir; House Republicans Release Budget Plan, Call For Trillions In Cuts; The "Future Of Solar Energy" To Close After 11 Years; "Have I Got New For You" New Season Premiers Saturday At 9P ET/PT. Aired 9:30- 10a ET
Aired February 13, 2025 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:53]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are monitoring the Senate Judiciary Committee. That is the chair, Senator Chuck Grassley.
They are about to vote on the nomination to move the nomination forward to the full Senate for Kash Patel to be the next FBI director. Chuck Grassley here, the chairman, is basically talking about how much reform is needed in the FBI. That is his assertion. And that Kash Patel is the right person to do that.
And we are standing by very shortly, we think, to hear from the ranking Democrat on this committee, Dick Durbin, who's been highly critical of Kash Patel, questioning his honesty in confirmation hearings, questioning some business dealings, and many other things as well.
Let's listen in just for one second, first to Chuck Grassley, and then perhaps we will hear Senator Durbin as well.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): -- I hope you hear that. Put them in a position they were in before they had their retaliation. President Trump, I hope you hear that. If you can hire people, you can reinstate people, President Trump.
That's part of what this committee ought to be focused on, solutions to the rampant weaponization and whistleblower retaliation. These are two issues that Kash Patel is perfectly suited to fix, because he's lived those issues.
Senator Durbin.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Thank you, Chairman Grassley. After reviewing Kash Patel's record and meeting with him, questioning him at this hearing, I'm even more convinced that he has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to lead the FBI.
A little history. Fifty years ago, Frank Church led an effort to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They came up with a sweeping reform and conclusion. Congress passed a law, limiting the FBI director to a single term of 10 years, subjecting the appointment to the advice and consent of the Senate. These actions were taken specifically to ensure that FBI director remains apolitical and is shielded from outside influence, and that no FBI director amasses the kind of power that J. Edgar Hoover, the founder of the FBI, exercised when he had wiretaps on Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders and branded them as communist.
For the last half century, this law has served its purpose --
BERMAN: As you can hear, Senator Dick Durbin vehemently opposed to the nomination of Kash Patel, going through the reasons why he thinks he is unqualified to lead the FBI.
This committee vote will happen shortly. We will keep you posted what happens. It is anticipated that Kash Patel will be passed through the committee. If that does not happen, obviously, we'll let you know.
Also this morning, House Republicans have released their budget blueprint, calling for a minimum of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
The response from Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, quote, Republicans want to cut Medicaid for seniors, all the while Elon Musk just got a $38 million government contract. They have one agenda, stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.
With us now is Congressman James Clyburn, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.
We just read that tweet, that statement from you out loud. What do you mean?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me.
It's simple as that. This reverse Robin Hood has been taking place by Republicans for a long time. Everybody enjoy tax cuts. The question is, how do you make them fair? And there's been nothing fair about these tax cuts.
Now, I have not read thoroughly the contours of this budget that we are supposed to be seeing in a few minutes. But from what I've seen, you're talking about a trillion and a half dollars in tax cuts. And then you're talking about preparing to give another big tax break to multimillionaires.
[09:35:11]
Now all of these so-called Matthew 25 Christians that operate in this place, this doesn't seem as if it's a fulfillment of doing for the least of these. We are doing much more for the wealthy, wealthiest among us. And that's what is going on with this budget. And that is just unfair. It's not the American way. And I just think that we ought to really take a hard look at what comes before us.
BERMAN: You mentioned possible cuts to Medicaid. What are your concerns there?
CLYBURN: Well, my concerns are about certainly people who are low- income people in need of healthcare. And that is a lot of what Medicaid is about.
But Medicaid is also about nursing home care. And the fact of the matter is, I've been telling people all the time, we keep focusing on the beneficiaries of these laws, like people who are in nursing homes.
What about the people who benefit from them? If you own a nursing home, this is going to have dire consequences upon you and the people that you hire in that nursing home.
And so, I just think that we ought to really think about what it is we're doing to the economy, not just withholding help from people in nursing homes, but you are going to have a lot of people unemployed, and you're going to have a lot of people owning some nursing homes that they're going to have to put in mothballs. And I'm going to see how that helps the economy at all.
BERMAN: As this process moves forward, how willing do you think Democrats should be to vote in a way that would lead to a government shutdown?
CLYBURN: Well, you framed that question in a very interesting way. We ought to vote in the best interest of the American people. And I think that that's what we're going to be doing. Nobody wants to shut the government down. That too leads to unemployment. We want to do what is best for the American people, and we should vote that way.
And so, if people are coming forward with these unfair tax cuts, making these unfair cuts to services, we need to vote against that.
BERMAN: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) --
CLYBURN: That's not voting to shut the government down. That's saying to people the government is open, it's running smoothly, let's continue it going that way, and if you come out with a trillion- dollar-and-a-half tax cut, that's what's going to be shutting the government down, your proposals, not my vote.
BERMAN: I want to ask you very quickly, you've been in Democratic leadership for a while. On the Senate side, Mitch McConnell has been in Republican leadership, was for a long time. Now that he's out of leadership, he's casting some interesting votes against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard. We don't know about Robert F. Kennedy today.
But what do you think of these votes from Mitch McConnell against a Republican president?
CLYBURN: Well, I think they're interesting votes because Mitch has for a long time been voting one way and talking another. He seems to be lining up his votes now with his rhetoric, and, well, it's a bit late, but I guess you take it when you can get it. But there's a big difference in Democratic leadership and Republican leadership. We tend to keep people above our politics.
On the Republican side, they put the politics above the people, and that's why you see these votes going the way they're going, even with all these cabinet elections. That's what the politician want, Trump the politician. That's what they want, so they give it to him. They know better.
And they are voting against what they know to be the best interests of this country, putting the country at risk, putting people in charge and running the government who have absolutely no idea about how to run anything, and then we're saying that we're doing it for the people. No, you're doing it for the politician.
BERMAN: Congressman James Clyburn from South Carolina, thanks for coming on this morning. Appreciate it.
Sara?
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It went from the future of solar energy to a, quote, financial boondoggle, why the owners of a massive field of solar panels, I know you've seen the pictures of this, are now closing up shop.
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[09:44:12]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A desert solar project once hailed as the future of solar and clean energy. Now the owners of this giant field of mirrors in the Mojave Desert have announced it's closing down.
CNN's Bill Weir is here with it.
It is amazing to look at, Bill, but what are you learning about all this?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): It is like something out of a sci-fi film. If you've ever driven from Vegas to Los Angeles, you might have seen this on the border and the Mojave there, the Ivanpah concentrated solar array. There's hundreds of thousands of mirrors that use computers to reflect the sun's energy as the sun moves at these three giant towers bigger than the Statue of Liberty, they boil water, which creates steam to create electricity. And when it was installed in 2014, it was one of the cutting-edge options for a cleaner energy future.
[09:45:00]
But it turns out that those mirrors are really hard to move in the desert right there. And boiling water and doing all of that is super complicated. Oh, and by the way, that concentrated heat would fry birds in flight as they flew through the paths. It was also a threat to the desert tortoise. So, a lot of groups hated this thing. And now, it looks like they are winding it down right now. About a billion and a half, a little over a federal loan money went into that. Unclear how much of that will get paid back, of course, policy wise, the Biden administration tried and Obama tried a lot of all of the above clean energy technology. Trump is trying to got all that back.
So for opponents to solar energy, this will be seen as a testament to wasted tax dollars, but when it was built, no one could imagine that solar voltaic that the panels that turn electric sunlight into electricity without boiling water would be so gobsmackingly cheap, cheap as a fence panel basically, if you're building a house right now.
So that ultimately is what killed Ivanpah.
BOLDUAN: Yes. So interesting. Take a big picture though. You're talking, you know, what is the state of American solar energy?
WEIR (on-camera): It is booming. And it's certainly not booming as big as China. So last year, Kate, the country installed around 35 gigawatts. One gigawatt is as much energy as a full-size nuclear power plant. So, 35 ain't bad, close to 40. China installed a gigawatt of clean energy a day. Over 365 last year.
So, they're going all in on the kind of fuels that don't burn. There is still -- still coal plants as backups that you're seeing in China. But the rest of the world is really moving in this direction right now. A lot of the United States is going there in the private space. Trump, of course, is the big wild card.
BOLDUAN: Yes, this is one of those areas where private and public, the private sector and the federal government seem to be moving not in the same direction, at least in public pronouncements right now.
It's great to see you, Bill. Thank you, as always, for bringing us your reporting.
John?
BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for confirmation hearings for the President's pick to be Education Secretary. This comes at a time when the President's made clear he pretty much wants to end the Department of Education.
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[09:51:36]
SIDNER: A new season of our comedy quiz show "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" comes to CNN this Saturday. The show pokes fun at the news and us. I'm liking it less and less.
Newsmakers also feel the heat. It's hosted by the politically astute comedian Roy Wood Jr. with team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, the man with three names.
All right, you're here with us now.
MICHAEL IAN BLACK, COMEDIAN: Yes.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).
SIDNER: I mean, it's -- it's good. OK, so you don't just roast politicians and, you know, us or what's happening in the news. You -- you kind of go after one another.
We have a little clip here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARA SWISHER, JOURNALIST: Can I make one (INAUDIBLE) --
ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: Yes, yes.
SWISHER: You know, there's three lesbians on this panel?
BLACK: Am I one of them?
SWISHER: No. You dress like one.
BLACK: OK.
SWISHER: Kind of look Ellen.
BLACK: How do you know everything?
SWISHER: Because I'm far smarter than you.
To be fair, I've been to that mall and it's a good mall.
WOOD: The quality mall.
SWISHER: The quality mall.
BLACK: Do they have Baby Gap there? Is that where you bought your outfit?
WOOD: Let's not hit personal.
BLACK: I'm not. I didn't take an incoming fire all night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You were, I could feel it. It was, you know, coming in, coming in, then boom.
BOLDUAN: I don't know making (INAUDIBLE) laugh is like true win. I mean she knows how to stay stone cold (ph).
BLACK: Oh, yes. She has a -- she's a really good poker face.
BOLDUAN: Yes. BLACK: No, that was my -- that was my finest moment of last season roasting Kara Swisher, who literally is I feel like the smartest person I've ever met. That she's a brilliant woman.
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: So, where do you find the material? There's just nothing out there (INAUDIBLE).
BLACK: Yes, I mean it's been a slow news cycle.
SIDNER: Very slow.
BLACK: And last season was slow I don't know what we're going to talk about this season. I guess the weather. It'll be a lot of weather talk.
SIDNER: You got understood, nothing to do with buying Greenland or you know, anything like that (INAUDIBLE).
BLACK: It's red white and blue land. Thank you.
SIDNER: My bad.
BOLDUAN: Thank you (INAUDIBLE). Don't mess.
BERMAN: And if you don't say that you're going to lose access to the oval office.
SIDNER: That's correct.
BOLDUAN: What it is a team captain? Like what -- what --
BLACK: I'm (INAUDIBLE) here.
BOLDUAN: How does it feel?
BLACK: It feels great.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
BLACK: I was expecting that there would be a sack.
BOLDUAN: I won't do (INAUDIBLE) --
BLACK: You get sash. I can get you one. Thank you. I mean, I don't know if CNN cheaped out on the sashes.
SIDNER: It did.
BLACK: I don't know like you guys going have sashes.
BOLDUAN: Stop talking about (INAUDIBLE) please.
SIDNER: This is not the (INAUDIBLE). I did do a little tiny bit of research. I'm just -- BERMAN: First time for everything.
SIDNER: First time for everything. You know what, I would deal with --
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: -- Mr.
BLACK: Are you the co -- are you the co-captain.
SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE) captain.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: This is such an (INAUDIBLE) audition tape but he's like (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
BLACK: John, you can see on the show, it's fine. But you can be (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) he has a photographic memory.
SIDNER: That's true.
BOLDUAN: He pretends he doesn't and that's why (INAUDIBLE).
SIDNER: This is true (INAUDIBLE). I went and looked -- I didn't know that Roy would -- he actually was a reporter at one point at a local --
BLACK: I don't know.
SIDNER: Well, he was. And wait, this is the funniest part because this is the part, I didn't know that he worked for a morning show called Buck Wilde Morning Show. I mean it just kind of write themselves. Do you -- I think you should bring that up.
BLACK: I will bring it.
SIDNER: Buck Wilde.
BLACK: I didn't know. What's it called? The Buck Wilde Morning Show.
SIDNER: Buck Wilde Morning Show.
BLACK: That's -- yes. We're taping tomorrow and that will be the first thing out of my mouth.
BERMAN: You're like a poker. You're like a gamer. You're like a poker player. You're like --
BLACK: Yes.
BERMAN: -- you know, so -- so I -- the show which is very funny sort of a game, sort of not. I mean the type of game -- how do you combine gamesmanship with comedy is what I guess (INAUDIBLE)?
[09:55:05]
BLACK: Well, the important thing to remember when you watch our show is there's games and they don't matter at all. So it's all comedy, with, you know, a fiction of gaming involved.
BOLDUAN: Is there -- what is -- what is the balance on news, right? It is a hypercharged time, it's -- that's not new.
Do you find it is hard to find a balance of --
BLACK: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- making fun of a headline and I don't know.
BLACK: Well, I think the challenge for our show is obviously there are certain personalities right now who are dominating the news cycle.
SIDNER: Really?
BLACK: And I think -- yes, and I think our challenge is to not make the show entirely about those personalities. Like there's a whole big world out there, and we want to make fun of all of it.
BERMAN: So not just carrot top jokes.
BLACK: Next time, say spoiler alert because this week is all carrot top jokes, John.
SIDNER: He so wants to be a part of the show. This is his ploy. It is so obvious.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Yes, some show. That's all I've been asking (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: Congratulations. It's really fun.
SIDNER: Yes, it's great,
BLACK: Thanks so much. And congratulations going to Harvard.
BOLDUAN: That's not me.
SIDNER: That wouldn't be her.
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: We're state school girls.
BOLDUAN: No, I -- I still went to a way too expensive private school. I got declined from Harvard. Thank you very much.
BLACK: College dropout over here.
SIDNER: And look at -- look at you. You got the best deal.
BERMAN: I'm not going to decline since Harvard (INAUDIBLE).
SIDNER: They're disowning you. And we're being told we have to go sixteen times.
BOLDUAN: Read the promo, Sara (ph).
SIDNER: Oh, read promo. OK. OK.
That was Michael Ian Black making us all laugh, as well as John Berman trying to. Be sure to tune in, a new season of "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU," premieres Saturday, 9:00 p. m. Eastern and Pacific, right here. It is very obvious, here on CNN, and you can see it on Max as well.
BERMAN: "NEWSROOM" is next.
BOLDUAN: Well, done.
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