Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) is Interviewed about Trump's Executive Actions; Trump's Executive Action for Virus Relief; Biden Expected to Announce Running Mate; Lebanon's Government Expected to Step Down; Postponing College Football. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 10, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic or Republican support. It took money from elsewhere, in that case the Pentagon. Went ahead and put money into the wall. Now he's taking money from emergency funds to try to divert it to unemployment benefits.

Will Democrats sue to block that action?

REP. GERALD CONNOLLY (D-VA): I would hope so. I mean, as you, I think, indicated in the -- in the promo here, the Constitution is pretty clear in Article I who has taxing and spending authority. And it's the United States Congress. And there was a reason that the first article of the Constitution dealt with congressional powers, not executive powers. So if there's anything Congress absolutely has control over, it's those two things. And this is, obviously, in my view, unconstitutional and should be challenged.

SCIUTTO: Politically, though, I wonder, do you want to see Democrats suing the president and a lot of folks out there who aren't, you know, deep students of constitutional law would look and say, wait, why are Democrats trying to block me getting money? I mean, politically, do you think the president might have it right here?

CONNOLLY: No, I really don't. I think it's sort of almost a Hail Mary pass because if you really look at the substance behind what he did, there's very little substance. So on evictions, 12 million Americans facing eviction, all he does is direct federal agencies to look at it, see what you can do. Not one single person prevented from eviction with this executive order.

On the payroll withholding tax, he jeopardizes Medicare and Social Security and -- and it's a deferral. So you're going to have a lump sum payment at the end of the year.

And, by the way, it doesn't help the 31 million Americans collecting unemployment insurance because they don't pay that withholding.

And, finally, with respect to unemployment, he has this little fine print that states which are already hemorrhaging revenue and huge expenditures due to the pandemic, and unemployment burdens are expected to pay 25 percent of the $400 he would provide. And I think that's a non-starter. So there's no there there behind these executive orders.

SCIUTTO: OK.

Let's talk about the U.S. Postal Service. On Friday evening, typically when you try to hide things you don't want a lot of attention on, a hiring freeze, massive reorganization of top Postal Service leaders, of course led by the postmaster general, was a Trump supporter and a donor. He claims this is about efficiency in the Post Office. Do you believe that explanation?

CONNOLLY: I'd call that a Trojan horse. We're -- we're about seven weeks away from the first votes being cast, most of them initially probably by mail, and all of a sudden you want to have efficiency and organization, which just so happens to have the corollary effect of slowing down delivery of mail.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's a remarkable argument.

CONNOLLY: It's -- it's really -- connect -- connect the dots.

SCIUTTO: Are you saying, say it directly, is this an attempt by the president, do you believe, to interfere in the election?

CONNOLLY: Absolutely. The president has not, to his credit, not been subtle about this. He has said that voting by mail is a threat to him and to Republicans and it, you know, has used phony -- you know, creates fraud and so forth and so on, even though we actually have lots of empirical data of states that gone -- have gone all mail voting who actually have almost no fraud and actually have smooth elections. But those facts notwithstanding, he's -- he -- he is afraid of people voting by mail in large numbers because of the pandemic and one way to suppress that vote, and they're experts in the vote suppression --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CONNOLLY: Is to slow down the delivery of mail.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CONNOLLY: And threaten (INAUDIBLE) --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CONNOLLY: The -- the failure of your ballot to get there.

SCIUTTO: It's a remarkable charge.

There's another issue. Four years ago, Russia interfered in the election. It was at assessment of the U.S. intelligence community. They did so to help Donald Trump. Last week we heard Russia is attempting to interfere in the 2020 election to help Donald Trump. The president has yet to warn Russia away. And, in fact, has questioned that assessment repeatedly.

Is the president, in effect, inviting Russian interference again in your view?

CONNOLLY: Again, I think this is another example where -- where Donald Trump is not subtle about that. He's already done it. So four years ago on the campaign he publicly, at a rally, invited the Russians to hack into his opponent's e-mails and reveal whatever they could find, which they promptly did.

So -- so I don't think it's any secret that he has a special bromance with Vladimir Putin. We can all speculate why. But he is certainly not willing, even when American lives are involved, to hold Putin and Russia to account for anything.

SCIUTTO: It's amazing four years later.

Congressman Gerry Connolly, thanks so much for joining me.

CONNOLLY: Any time, Jim, thank you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there is a lot of confusion over the executive action that the president took, as you just heard the congressman outline here, what it does and what is doesn't do.

[09:35:00]

Critics say it's not going to do a whole lot and there are tens of millions of unemployed Americans waiting for Congress to either get together and make a deal or for something to happen to offer them relief.

Our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is here with us now.

As always, right, it's the devil in the details, right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. How --

HARLOW: So can you talk to us about what this actually does for people that wake up this morning, Christine, and they think, oh, $400 is coming to me weekly in the mail now.

ROMANS: It's not coming this week. It's not coming next week. It's probably not coming the next week. I mean the how and the when here are the two big questions. And the power of the purse, you know, we all know that is Congress. But the president has really harnessed the power of the photo-op or the -- the pseudo press conference to really try to make it look like he has made a power play around Congress. But what money will actually get in your pocket in the near-term? It's unclear that any will, quite frankly, here because one thing that we know now is the president was talking about the states chipping in $100 a week for those unemployment benefits and then the federal government would use a disaster relief fund for the other $300.

Well, a bunch of these states are broke, quite frankly. You know, they just don't have the funding. That's why they're asking for more funding in the stimulus package passed by Congress. So these states would have to chip in 25 percent and then you'd have to have a whole other infrastructure built to deliver the money. And, you know, employment law experts tell us that could take months to stand up. We know how difficult the state system is already here.

So getting money directly to people quickly doesn't look like it's a viable option here with what the president announced on Saturday.

HARLOW: There is again a big focus here on the president saying he's going to take action on payroll taxes.

ROMANS: Sure.

HARLOW: I don't totally understand the focus on it since it doesn't help 31 million people that are out of work because they don't pay tax on payroll.

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: But that aside, this isn't even eliminating the payroll tax for a period of time. This is just deferring the payment of it, right?

ROMANS: Right. So then there would be a bill to be paid later. And that's what the problem is for so many employers who are looking at this big bill at the end of the year that would have to be repaid.

Now the president said if he were reelected, he would cancel that instead of a defer --

HARLOW: I don't think he can do that.

ROMANS: Well, that's Congress again.

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean that's -- the tax and spend is the purview of Congress. So, I mean, assuming -- assuming that all of these things are even constitutional, the president would have to win election and then have to get Congress to cancel that out.

So, you know, this is -- you know, I've heard some critics call it empty calories, but this really was -- this was the president trying to show a power play --

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: To show that Congress couldn't get it done. He's going to get it done. He's very good at, you know, managing that public perception, right, among his base and among his supporters. But if you think you're out of work today and you're going to get a $400 check this week, you're not.

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: By the way, the $400 is less than the $600 that people were getting prior to that expiration of the CARES Act --

HARLOW: Yes. ROMANS: And it's less than the Democrats had passed in their House bill back in May.

HARLOW: Yes. And let's remember, by the way, where payroll taxes go, right?

ROMANS: Exactly.

HARLOW: They go to shore up the floundering coffers of Social Security and Medicare --

ROMANS: Exactly.

HARLOW: Which the president said he wouldn't touch.

ROMANS: Exactly.

HARLOW: Christine, thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HARLOW: It's going to be one of Joe Biden's biggest decisions, a really important one, who will he pick to join him on the Democratic ticket? We might find out this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:44]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Well, you've been waiting for it. Joe Biden is expected to reveal this week who he has chosen to be his running mate in 2020.

HARLOW: Right. We know he's committed to putting a woman on the ticket. She is slated to speak at the virtual Democratic National Convention next Wednesday.

Our political correspondent MJ Lee is here.

Good morning, MJ.

Do we really know -- I mean I want to ask you whose made it to the final round. Do we even know?

SCIUTTO: That's a good question.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, CNN's reporting is that there are a number of women who are being seriously considered at this point by Joe Biden to be his running mate. Those women include California Senator Kamala Harris. She, of course, what she has going for her is that she has been through national vetting and has been in the national spotlight because, of course, she ran against Joe Biden in the 2020 primary.

We also have been reporting that former National Security Adviser Susan Rice is in serious contention as well. She, of course, has had a working relationship with Joe Biden, because they both worked in the Obama administration together.

And, over the weekend, we reported that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer actually had an in-person meeting with Joe Biden lately and that she is also being seriously considered as well. We know that Biden has publicly praised the way that she has handled the coronavirus pandemic in her state. So the fact that there was a -- this final sort of interview is very significant.

And some other names that we have been talking about, women that we know were either seriously vetted or at some point maybe perhaps even now are being seriously considered are folks like Congresswoman Karen Bass, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Senator Elizabeth Warren.

You know, as for the timing, it really could be any day now, but I do think it's worth keeping in mind that in the past Joe Biden has blown through his previously sort of self-given deadlines. Initially he had said August 1st and then he said the first week of August.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEE: So, you know, we're right before the convention now so we do expect that any day now.

SCIUTTO: Yes, think about it, three of the last four elections there would be a woman at or near the top of the ticket. Long time coming.

Joe Biden and Barack Obama famously had a close working relationship. They worked well together. They were in sync. They turned out to be good friends. I'm curious, based on your reporting, how essential to that, beyond all the other political considerations, is that to the vice president -- the former vice president's decision-making?

[09:45:10]

LEE: Well you know, Jim, it goes without saying that the number one most important priority for Joe Biden is choosing someone who is ready to do the job, somebody who is going to be ready on day one, he has said, to assume the job of the presidency, somebody who can handle everything that is so serious that is going on. We are, obviously, in the middle of a global public health crisis. The United States is in the middle of a global recession, as you guys have been talking about all morning. So all of these things are particularly important when you consider Joe Biden's age.

Now, that aside, again, that is the most important thing, it is true that Joe Biden has also talked about wanting to find a working partner who he can really get along with, who he feels really comfortable with. And when he talks about that, he often points back to the working relationship he himself had with former President Barack Obama, that that is the kind of relationship and feel that he is looking for in a partner.

I will just quickly note a political dynamic. You know, people close to Biden feel like things are looking pretty good right now headed into the fall. They know where the poll numbers stand. So a lot of them are asking the former vice president to go with a safe choice and a known choice and a choice that is just not controversial.

SCIUTTO: Well, ask Hillary Clinton about that, if we think of 2016.

MJ Lee, thanks very much.

LEE: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Up next we will be live in Beirut where sources say the government of Lebanon will step down today, less than one week after a deadly explosion that has sparked enormous outrage there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:13]

HARLOW: Well, this just in to CNN.

Sources say that Lebanon's government is expected to step down today. This comes, of course, less than a week after that deadly explosion across Beirut that killed more than 160 people and has sparked days of violent protests and, Jim, even more economic collapse in that country.

SCIUTTO: And they're holding their government accountable. People angry at Lebanese leaders.

Let's go to CNN's Ben Wedeman. He is live in Beirut, spent years covering there.

Ben, you've seen a lot of stuff there in decades covering the region and Lebanon. How severe is the outrage and are you surprised by the government's exit now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, nobody's really surprised, Jim and Poppy, that the government may be about to resign. Now it's not certain at this point. Several ministers have already resigned. About seven members of parliament have resigned as well.

What we've seen in Lebanon, if you take into account last Tuesday's massive explosion that killed 160 people, wounded 6,000, and made 300,000 people homeless, plus the economic collapse, plus the Covid pandemic where we're seeing every day a greater number of cases, it is a perfect storm. And much of this can be -- go down to the incompetence and negligence of not just this government but previous governments as well.

So it is expected that the government will resign within the coming hours. That probably will not do much to decrease the anger on the street because people are angry, not necessarily with this particular government and the ministers that compose it, but rather with the state writ large, which has simply failed time and again to stop the economic collapse, to do anything about the fact that for six years 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate was sitting in the port. Just imagine if in Washington, D.C., a massive explosion happened on Roosevelt Island, that it flattened Georgetown, Rosslyn, made 300,000 inhabitants homeless. Just imagine the fury you would see in the United States. And that's exactly what you're seeing here.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's understandable. And our hearts go out to the people there. I know many people still missing in the rubble, families struggling.

Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you.

HARLOW: Yes, great reporting, Ben, thank you.

The coronavirus has already taken down March Madness. Now it might put the brakes on the entire college football season. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:04]

SCIUTTO: Well, Covid just reverberating across sports. College football's five biggest conferences now are discussing the possibility that this year's college football season could entirely be postponed.

HARLOW: Our Carolyn Manno is with us for more.

I mean some of the quotes in some of the reporting from unnamed officials in the league make it sound like it's just not going to happen.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's certainly what it sounds like, Poppy. No official decision's been made, but if you read between the tea leaves, you see the signs that this is inevitability at this point. I mean right now the latest that we know of is that the leaders, the powers that be, those conferences that you mentioned, Jim, met in an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss the possibility of a postponement, not only for college football, but for all fall sports because the trickledown effect really affects everyone.

This is certainly indicative of a fall that doesn't have any college football in it. Sources in one of the conferences telling CNN that the commissioners have been meeting for months. Those talks are going to continue. One school's athletic director saying to ESPN that the outlook, quote, doesn't look good.

On Saturday, the Mid-American Conference became the first league from the NCAA's top tier to postpone all of the conference's fall sports. And that was really a tipping point. And that includes men's and women's soccer, field hockey, women's volleyball, there's a lot at stake here.

Meantime, Major League Baseball postponing the St. Louis Cardinals' three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was schedule to start today. A total of 17 members of the Cardinals' organization, ten players, seven staff have been infected with coronavirus. The team's president of baseball operations telling CNN that one player and one staff member did go to the emergency room, but neither were admitted. So the team now faced with having to tackle playing 55 games in 46 days. You know, they have two days off in that span, Jim and Poppy, but by my math, and I'm not a math major, I believe that that's eight double headers, seven inning games in, you know, a span of a little over a month. I mean this is just an animal with 30 tentacles in sports every time somebody breaks, it's just another tentacle.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

[10:02:00]

HARLOW: I think you got the math right on that one for sure, Carolyn. Thank you very, very much.

END