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California Battles Wildfires; Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) is Interviewed about Croft Testimony; Chicago Teacher's Strike Drags On; U.S. Economy Growth Slows. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 30, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zones that these firefighters have been working so hard to make and start fires in places there weren't to begin with.

Another threat with wind goes back to how this Getty Fire started in the first place. We learned from investigators that it was high winds that ripped off a tree branch and sent it flying into a power line and that's what sparked the blaze that's now burned more than 650 acres and burned more than 12 homes, forced thousands from their homes as a precaution in this.

So when you look at the week ahead, we are -- have already seen this morning wind gusts topping 65 miles per hour in some parts of southern California here. And we're getting initial reports that there may be another fire that just sparked in the last five or six minutes or so. So we're going to try and keep an eye on that.

But that's precisely what officials have feared in this. And it's not just the city and citizens trying to take precautions against this, but power companies as well. I mentioned that the tree branch went into one of those power lines. SoCal Edison Power, that controls the power for southern California, has already said that it's possible they're going to have to shut off power for more than 300,000 people in this area just as a precaution.

And, of course, comes after we had seen PG&E in northern California shutting off power for their customers by the hundreds of thousands ahead of the Kincade Fire that they're currently dealing with as well.

So, a lot of factors to keep an eye on. This could be a really bad week for this region of the country.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Just a statewide crisis there. And so many homes, so many people's lives affected.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So many.

SCIUTTO: Good to have you on the ground, Omar Jimenez. Please be safe.

Two more State Department officials testifying before Congress today. One of them in front of House investigators as we speak, expected to detail who ordered aid withheld from Ukraine. We're going to speak to one of the Democrats who is allowed to listen in on that testimony coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:35]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

So right now another State Department official is testifying behind closed doors, sharing what she knows about the Trump administration's decision to withhold that aid from Ukraine. According to the opening statement that has been obtained by CNN, Catherine Croft will testify that she learned from an OMB official via videoconference that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney put an informal hold on that security assistance and said, quote, the only reason given was that the order came at the direction of the president.

With me now is Vermont Democratic Congressman Peter Welch. Of course he serves on both the House Intel and the Oversight Committees.

And I know you're going into that testimony right after we wrap up here, so let's get right to it.

What questions do you have for Ms. Croft?

REP. PETER WELCH (D-VT): Well, it's what you said in your opening. What we're trying to do is a thorough investigation, who knew what, when.

You know, this all starts with the president's own language, his phone call and the read out of that call where he asked for, quote, a favor and basically used his office to try to get a foreign power to assist him in the 2020 campaign. And what we're doing with these witnesses is finding out what, if any information they have that corroborates what was obviously the intention of the president according to his own words.

These two -- this witness is a career State Department official. You mentioned that she has, in her opening statement, but our questions, both Republicans and Democrats will be, do you know anything more and we'll try to get corroboration.

HARLOW: OK. Let's talk about what's happening tomorrow. That is a full house vote on this impeachment resolution and the rules for it. You have obviously got a lot of Democratic support for this. Nancy Pelosi wouldn't take it to the floor, I think, without knowing the votes. But you do have, for example, New Jersey Democratic Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who's a no, leaning a no, at least, on the resolution and he said recently, quote, I think the right side of history is not to impeach.

Do you expect others to join that camp?

WELCH: I don't think too many. And, keep in mind, there's a couple of things. One, there was a lot of reservation about proceeding on impeachment led by Nancy Pelosi. And that really did change after the Ukraine call. And it became a question as to whether there was a constitutional obligation to proceed. Mr. Van Drew was in that camp. And we'll see.

But, second, tomorrow is about the process. It's really not validating the inquiry. That's been ongoing. And this process is going to be very open, allowing the president and his attorneys to be present during the testimony. And he'll be able to ask questions and see things.

HARLOW: Well, can I -- let me just ask you a little bit more about that because what we've learned from reading this and, you know, and from impeachment experts, like Ross Garber, who was just on the program a few minutes ago, yes, it lays out that the president's attorney would be able to be in the room, would be able to cross- examine witnesses, but not until it reached the Judiciary Committee stage, right, which is --

WELCH: That's correct.

HARLOW: And it's different than the Clinton impeachment. You already had the Ken Starr report. You already had the road map. The Republican argument, as I understand it is, this isn't really fair because the president's attorney can't be in there cross-examining during this stage of it, right, with your committees and the questions you're asking.

WELCH: Well, that's -- that's --

HARLOW: Should they be afforded that opportunity so you can really argue, you know, full transparency, full equal rights?

WELCH: No, the -- it -- you're partly right, but here's where it's different. In the Clinton impeachment you had a special prosecutor. In this case, the special prosecutor, in effect, is the intelligence committee in the hearings we're conducting with the two other committees.

[09:40:08]

So that stage, which would be comparable to the Mueller investigation on the obstruction of justice issues, is the part that is done in private for investigation reasons.

HARLOW: Yes.

WELCH: So that's what's really different. The special prosecutor, in effect, is the Intel Committee.

HARLOW: I -- look, you make an important point. I understand the difference, but I'm glad you laid it out for people. I just wonder if you see any merit to Republicans' argument here because they are different scenarios than back in the late '90s.

WELCH: I don't. And here's why. When you do an investigation, you've got to get the witnesses in private so they're not doctoring their testimony and, really, preparing it in advance on the basis of what's been reported publicly. That's the normal approach. When we get to the open hearing stage, everyone's going to hear from many of the witnesses who we've heard from in private in real time and there will be an opportunity for the Republicans then, just as there is now in these closed hearings, for them to ask questions.

HARLOW: Yes.

WELCH: So my view, this is a fair process and very consistent with prior history.

HARLOW: Right. There are 48 Republicans between those three committees that can be in there for all the hours of testimony asking whatever questions they want. Mark Meadows has said as much, no limit on questioning.

Do you think it's important to hear from the whistleblower?

WELCH: I don't really. Maybe added color. But what you've seen with the whistleblower report, the incredible details that was in that report is confirmation from everyone from the president's phone call that came out after the whistleblower report to Mick Mulvaney's statement in public to the other witnesses. So the whistleblower, I don't think at this point -- the whistleblower got this started, but the whistleblower didn't have firsthand information. It turned out that the firsthand information he lacked has been provided by many others, including Lieutenant Colonel Vindman yesterday.

HARLOW: OK.

Finally, when it comes to what -- what other members of Congress can do right now, for example, members of the committees who are not going into the room, like Congressman Yoho, who we had on the program yesterday, who until yesterday had not attended any of -- any of these depositions. The ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCall, wrote a letter to Adam Schiff complaining about the process and said your staff claims the only way that we can have access to the transcripts is in your offices during designated hours under the personal supervision and monitoring of a majority staffer. Is that fair, do you think, congressman?

WELCH: Well, there's two issues. One is, do we want to make the transcripts available to all members of Congress? The answer is yes.

Number two, do we want to keep the current -- the transcripts private until they're disclosed publicly? And that requires some process where there's some limiting of when and how you can see it. We just don't have the staff.

But I think we can be flexible on that to try to accommodate the desired members.

HARLOW: OK.

WELCH: And so we -- we're open on that.

HARLOW: All right. So maybe there should be some give there, you're saying. I appreciate your time. I know you've got to get into the deposition, so I'll let you go.

WELCH: Yes, thank you.

HARLOW: Congressman Peter Welch, thank you.

WELCH: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, there's no deal in Chicago. The mayor there says the city offered its striking teachers more money and, quote, it's still not good enough as the strike now enters its tenth day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:48:05]

HARLOW: Chicago Public Schools are closed for a tenth day. This is after the mayor and leaders from the teachers union failed to reach a deal. Hundreds of thousands of students, of course, and their families impacted by all of this.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's no small thing. Imagine your kids going through the same. The union president says a lot of progress has been made. Officials could vote today if there is a tentative agreement in place.

CNN's Ryan Young, he's following the latest from Chicago.

Ryan, obviously, this has enormous effects for families there. What are the chances they come to an agreement?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, obviously a lot of people are looking at this very closely. There's a lot of students, especially the football players in this city, who want to make sure hopefully they get back to school sometime soon. In fact, if they're not back to school by today, in terms of some sort of agreement, they won't be able to play in the playoffs.

But throughout the city, you see high school and teachers like this who -- all around who are protesting, making sure they want to have their voices heard because, at this point, they want the strike to end, but at the same time, they're not willing to give up the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice over): Still, no deal between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public School System. The strike now ten days, the longest in nearly 30 years.

JESSE SHARKEY, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION: It seems a lot of the big things, you know, I think I can see where they're going to land, or I can see that they will land. But, you know, we haven't settled everything. There's still some other stuff.

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT, CHICAGO: I really, really hope that they do the right thing and that they move forward so that all of our young people can get back in class.

YOUNG: High school senior Ian Bacon has likely had his cross-country season cut short because of the strike.

IAN BACON, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's just really disappointing that our season had to end this way.

YOUNG: Bacon learned the hard way that state rules don't allow athletes to compete during the strike. Students who play volleyball, football and tennis have also been impacted.

BACON: It's disappointing just to see that all, not necessarily go to waste, but --

KEVIN STERLING, FATHER OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Barring some miracle, the seniors -- there are a lot of seniors who will never run a cross- country race, an organized cross country race again.

[09:50:05]

JOSE RIVERA, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Mainly I've been just, you know, doing homework that was due before and coming out here a lot practicing.

YOUNG: For these seniors Jose Rivera and Jacob Hirschtritt, normally their entire baseball team would be here practicing. They're now worried about the impact the strike is having on their early college application process.

JACOB HIRSCHTRITT, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's already stressful enough. So I think the teacher strike definitely adds to that. And to not have someone professionally able to read my essay, it's a little nerve- racking when I'm submitting college apps with multiple different essays that I'm not fully confident in.

YOUNG: Jacob tells me many of his friends have even applied for extensions from colleges in hopes of buying some extra time. Many seniors have also missed ACT and SAT testing dates.

HIRSCHTRITT: So, for me, what's in jeopardy is early applications, in particular, to Fordham. I was recently given an extension to that school. But I don't know if I'll make the extension date even with this because of the strike continuing longer than maybe they even expected.

YOUNG: The teachers strike started on October 17th with 25,000 teachers walking off the job in the country's third largest school district. Nearly 300,000 students have been out of school. Class size and staffing are two of the issues holding up the agreement.

STERLING: These kids have become the collateral damage for the strike.

HIRSCHTRITT: My hope is the strike ends soon. I'd like to get back to school, get my essays read, meet with my teachers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: And just think about this, today there was supposed to be a PSAT test. That had to be cancelled. A lot of the students are coming to some of the schools that are even open despite the fact that the teachers are out here. But, look, you can tell the weather's not that great. It's raining. We've had a light bit of snow. But the teachers have been out here still protesting, trying to get their voices heard.

There are people who believe that maybe today will be the day that something breaks. I can tell you, across town, in (INAUDIBLE) High School, those kids who played football so hard all year long are just hoping to get to practice today. If there is no agreement, there will be no practice, there will be no playoff games. There's so many kids who have been affected by this. And think about those kids who are applying for those colleges who want to get in early, that's not happening right now as the teachers are still out of school.

HARLOW: Ryan, it's such an important story. It matters for each and every one of those families. Thank you for reporting it out.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Ahead for us, the president promised 4 percent to 6 percent economic growth. The U.S. economy growing a lot slower than that. New numbers this morning. What they tell us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:09]

HARLOW: The U.S. economy -- that's your line.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. economy is growing at a slower pace. Sometimes she takes my lines. It happens.

HARLOW: All right.

SCIUTTO: Only reaching 1.9 percent in the third quarter. It's a slowdown.

HARLOW: Yes, not a laughing matter. That is well below the president's repeated promise of where he thought it would go.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The economy now has hit 3 percent. Nobody thought it would be anywhere close. I think we can go to 4, 5, and maybe even 6 percent ultimately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining us now, Cristina Alesci, business and politics correspondent.

This is no 6 percent.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: No, it is not. In fact, it's a mediocre report card for President Trump. And, in reality, there is no way that in this deceleration that we've seen in the fourth quarter that we're going to get to 4, 5, 6 percent growth this year.

President Trump has two things to thank. One, the resilience of the U.S. consumer is remarkable. It -- they keep continuing to spend. And let's not forget, and this is totally under covered, that the Republicans have backed record government spending and that is also boosting GDP growth here. So it actually has very little to do with the policies that Trump touts so much and more to do with sort of consumer confidence and the fact that government spending remains really strong.

However, despite the fact that we had this deceleration, I've been talking to CEOs, investors, donors who say that Trump will continue to get credit for a strong economy unless we have a recession or something as drastic as that.

HARLOW: Sure.

SCIUTTO: There are warning sign, though, are there not? If you look at the trend, I mean you -- we were looking at manufacturing numbers in swing states as well. You can be conscious of that. The president promised to bring jobs back.

When you talk to the smart people on this, where do they see the trend going? And I know they don't have a crystal ball, but where do they see the trend.

ALESCI: They don't have a crystal ball. And what's interesting about what you said is that the Federal Reserve, which we're going to hear from later today about the economy, always looks at the data going backwards. And what the smart people are doing is they're looking at the data going forward. For example, UBS put out a report that said there's a growing number of people in America who perhaps can't cover or barely can cover their expenses. So it's data like that, that's forward-looking that a lot of the smart people are paying attention to.

HARLOW: That's interesting.

SCIUTTO: Yes, so many more people than you realize are living paycheck to paycheck.

ALESCI: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: It's an American phenomenon.

HARLOW: The majority of this country.

SCIUTTO: Cristina Alesci, thanks so much.

HARLOW: Thank you.

ALESCI: Thank you.

HARLOW: OK, building off that, the largest private coal mining company in the entire United States, Murray Energy, has filed for bankruptcy. This comes as demand for coal has fallen to its lowest level in 40 years. CEO Robert Murray, one of the president's most vocal supporters, is also stepping down. He advised the president on issues related to coal, favor the rollback of certain Obama era regulations. In 2017, he wrote a letter to the Trump administration requesting an emergency order to protect coal plants from being closed.

[10:00:03]

The Trump administration rejected that request. The future of 7,000 employees across the country is now