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Mayor Of Portland Blames Trump For City's Violence; Biden Condemns Portland Violence; Stock Markets Rise; House Could Subpoena Intelligence Officials On Election Interference. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 30, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: President Trump has said Democratic leaders are responsible for allowing protest and violence to fester in America's streets. Now, Portland's mayor, who Trump has called a fool, wasn't having any of it today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED WHEELER (D), MAYOR OF PORTLAND OREGON: Yesterday's events began with hundreds of cars filled with supporters of the president rallying in Clackamas County and then driving through downtown Portland. They were supported and energized by the president himself.

President Trump, for four years, we've had to live with you and your racist attacks on black people. We learned early about your sexist opportunities towards women. We've had to endure clips of you mocking a disabled man.

We've had to listen to your anti-Democratic attacks on journalists. We've read your tweets slamming private citizens to the point of receiving death threats. And we've listened to your attacks on immigrants. We've listened to you label Mexican's rapists.

We've heard you say that John McCain wasn't a hero because he was a prisoner of war. And now you are attacking Democratic mayors and the very institutions of democracy that have served this nation well since its founding.

Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It's you who have created the hate and the division. It's you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers, even as people in law enforcement have.

And it's you who claimed that white supremacists are good people. Your campaign of fear is as anti-Democratic as anything you have done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country. You have tried to divide us more than any other figure in modern history, and now you want me to stop the violence that you helped create. What America needs is for you to be stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: The Portland mayor there directly calling the president

racist, sexist and telling the president it's you who has created the hate and division we are seeing in our streets. Now, last night one person was shot and killed in Portland. I

The shooting happened on a night that included violent clashes between racial justice activist and a group of Trump supporters who rolled into town for their own demonstration.

It's been now more than 90 consecutive nights of protesters in Portland of taking to the streets calling for an end to police brutality after the killing of George Floyd.

And during that time, the president has sought to downplay the racial reckoning, portraying himself as the only thing standing between order and chaos, claiming Joe Biden's America would not be safe.

Just this afternoon, presidential candidate Joe Biden released a statement unequivocally condemning the violence regardless of whether it was committed by the right or the left. And he challenged the president to do the same.

I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey. Also with us, former Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks April Ryan, and former presidential adviser to four U.S. presidents, David Gergen. Our Josh Campbell who was at this press conference is also standing by for us.

April Ryan, let me start with you. I want your reaction first to what we're seeing in Portland and what we heard from the mayor.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Ana, let's call a thing a thing. This president, Donald John Trump, has instigated a race war in America. Portland, Oregon, is ground zero. This president, Donald John Trump, has basically stoke the flames for racist extremists, neo- Nazis, and the alt-right.

And they're even defending, this president is even defending Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who went to Wisconsin and killed two protesters. So at the end of the day, the mayor of Portland is absolutely right. And there are those who are calling for help from this president and the stoking of a race war.

There is a race war in America right now because of this president. People are calling me, asking if there indeed is a way to get the International Crimes Court to come in to deal with this. You know, I've talked to some people who are in intelligence and they're saying he's done heinous things, but they have to say we don't know for sure.

[17:05:00]

But people are now afraid of this president, because he has stoked the racial flames. And let's call the thing a thing. He has now begun a race war in America in 2020.

CABRERA: Commissioner Ramsey, let me ask you. Do you feel as strongly as April? Is a race war playing out?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, I don't want to get in the middle of politics because I'm here to talk about the policing part of it. I think everybody needs to calm things down a bit. You know, this is dangerous. And I don't know if people realized just how dangerous it really is.

Listen, wherever you stand on a political spectrum, left, right, wherever, it doesn't matter, okay. You have a right to peacefully protest. When you add heated rhetoric and you add guns into the mix, absolutely nothing good can come from that.

And this is going to get worse before it gets better unless people start toning it down a little bit and dealing with the issues that we have in front of us. There are a lot of issues affecting us in society now. We're not going to fix them by throwing bombs at each other. That's just not going to happen.

And as far as the police go, I mean, they're right in the middle of it right now. And I really feel for that chief. I was listening to him as he was talking. I mean, I've been there. Not quite in the same position he is in now, but these things are very, very difficult to handle.

It's almost impossible to keep these group apart from one another. And the more we talk about these things in extreme terms, the more likely it is we're going to have more violence take place on the streets and it's not going to just be limited to Portland.

CABRERA: David Gergen, you have worked for presidents as far back as Richard Nixon. Have you ever felt it as dangerous as it is right now?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There were times during the Vietnam War I did. I think -- I don't think we have a race war underway now, but unless we're careful, we're heading in that direction.

Listen, I felt that the mayor -- he must be ha fine man. I'm sure of that. I think he cares deeply about his city and he wants to get a good resolution, but frankly I didn't think he helped himself today with that. The first thing was, as you said, you opened the show by saying there's been an escalation in the rhetoric.

Yes, and he came in and said we need to de-escalate, and then immediately escalated. He went after the president in very harsh terms, very personal, very ad hominem. And, you know, he has a good case, but if you're going to try and find peace and healing, you need to be able to sit down with each other too.

He has made himself -- it's impossible now for a lot of Republicans to work with someone like this, towards trying to find the healing. The second thing which startled me was, I came away feeling he doesn't have the resources and after some of these 90 days and all the stuff going on, he still doesn't have the resources.

There's something wrong with that picture. I mean, how do we know there won't be another shooting tonight? They don't have enough police there. And I do think it reinforces or better for worse, the mayor working out with the governor, the National Guard or some larger presence, to bring this in. You cannot negotiate for peace when you're shooting at each other or calling each other names.

CABRERA: Commissioner Davis, as the politics play out here, what is the role of the police right now?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, I agree with what Chuck and David said. I think that this is a remarkable point in time. The vice president, presidential candidate Biden made a statement today that we must not let our country become involved in a race war.

So we are at the precipice here of something very serious. And if I was sitting in the chief's position in Portland, I'd be concerned about the next 24 hours. I understand the mayor's frustration, but this was not the time to make those statements. This is a time to reassure the public that there were plans in place.

In the response to the question about what plans do you have for tonight, was that we're going to get together later on today. I could not believe that when I heard it. This -- we're talking about a very practical partnership that's necessary to pull resources together and to strongly stop the violence that's occurring. And I didn't hear that. It's frightening.

CABRERA: Josh Campbell, you have been back and forth in Portland over the course of the past, you know, few months because of these ongoing protests taking place there that have continued to escalate night after night. Josh, what does it feel like in Portland right now?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're looking forward or looking towards tonight, I should say, and for all indications, is that it has the potential to be very violent. And I just want to foot stomp something that the former commissioner just said, which once we heard that in that press conference, a lot of eyebrows were raised whenever we asked the law enforcement official there what the plan is for tonight.

[17:10:05]

And he said, well, I'm going to go meet with my people and then we're going to figure out what the plan. As the former commissioner said, I mean, we're now a city where they have seen this cycle of violence over and over and over.

And so that is obviously raising a lot of eyebrows. Well, what is the plan? There's also this question about whether or not to bring in the National Guard. Now, the request, the mayor said, has gone up to the governor that was twice denied. The question came, well, what other resources are you looking for? And that still seems to be something that they're trying to wrap their arms around.

As that happens, you see as we saw last night, something that wasn't necessarily part of these past incidents where you not only have one side of rioters against law enforcements, you now have an entire different segment of counter-demonstrators.

The pro-Trump group that are also in this mix of that's already volatile. And so the idea that, you know, the police don't have a plan that they're willing to share right now, again, raising a lot of eyebrows.

Now, to be sure, the police chief did say that often times they don't know where these pockets of violence will pop up around the city so it's hard to determine an advance where you're going to search (ph) these resources.

But that is, I think, a fair criticism there we're hearing from people here, is that you know, what is the plan for law enforcement? I will say to the previous point about the mayor, one thing that, you know, people have been asking is well, you know, we have the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world and all of this is happening under his watch.

How is any elected leader to respond when the president isn't condemning the violence that's occurred overnight. He's pouring gasoline on the fire by saying that, look, this wasn't unexpected because of this pattern of violence that we've continued to see.

And so, what we heard Mayor Wheeler just moments ago do, is really kind of forcefully and do two things. First, confront the president and say, look, you're to blame for this for stoking a lot of the violence, but also say and addressing the different factions of demonstrations -- counter demonstrators said, he wants to reset and he doesn't want to see this violence.

Whether that is enough, not likely to be the case if past is any indication, but it just shows the really, you know, volatile situation that the elected leaders here are in. How do you stop these violence when you now have different groups that are coming to this location, to this downtown area and engaging in, as the police say, acts of violence?

CABRERA: And bigger picture, this is now the second time in a week in which protests have turned deadly. The first was in Kenosha, Wisconsin a few days ago, April, and we know President Trump is headed to Kenosha on Tuesday. What do expect the reaction to be especially considering the mayor Kenosha has now said, you know, now is not the time for him to visit?

RYAN: You know, you wonder, is this to once again rally the president's base, especially the racist part of his base? You know, I've talked to the NAACP, the leaders of the NAACP who are using two words here, disturbed and very concerned about all of this.

And this president, going back to what David said, this president is not the president who is unifying. He's not going to offer something soaring to bring people together. And at the same time, he's defending Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who came to an open-carry state where you had to be 18 to open-carry.

He comes at 17 from Illinois and kills two black people -- well, kills two people, excuse me. And then seriously hurts someone else.

CABRERA: He's accused, yes. He's accused.

RYAN: So, the president, all he's -- Ye. Yes. All he's going to do is stoke the flakes yet again of this tension, this powder keg. And once again you have Black Lives Matter pitted against Trump loyalist. And you can call it what you want. The violence is escalating and the president is going there when he needs to say something to calm the American public, to soothe the soul if you will.

CABRERA: And his last tweet saying the only way to stop the violence and the high crime Democrat-run cities is through strength. Those are his words today. We'll be right back. Everyone, please stand by. I want to head to the White House as our breaking news continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

CABRERA: Following a night where a man was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler speaking moments ago going after the president directly, saying what America needs is for you to be stopped. I want to go straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond now at the White House. The mayor did not mince words in speaking to Trump, and now the president is responding. Fill us in.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: All right. That's right. Now, the Portland mayor certainly did not mince any words as he blamed the president directly for the hate and division that is happening in the United States of America, drawing a pretty direct line between the president and some of the violence that we have seen in American cities resulting from some of these protest including as we saw in Portland, confrontations between the president's own supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters.

Of course, the president has been trying to blame Democrats for the violence in some of these cities. And the president quickly responded to Mayor Ted Wheeler's criticism during this press conference.

Actually, while it was happening, we saw the president take to twitter and say that, "Ted Wheeler would like to blame me and the federal government for going in, but he hasn't seen anything yet. We have only been there with a small group to defend our U.S. courthouse because he couldn't do it. The people of Portland like all other cities and parts of our great country want law and order."

And then he goes on to say that the radical left Democrat mayors like the dummy running Portland or even speak -- will never be able to do it. And we also heard Ted Wheeler actually come out and respond to the president. It was as if they were having a conversation via the television. Listen to how Ted Wheeler responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEELER: It's classic Trump. Mr. President, how can you think that a comment like that, if you're watching this, is in any way helpful? It's an aggressive stance. It is not collaborative.

[17:20:00]

I certainly reached out, I believe in a collaborative manner by saying earlier that you need to do your part and I need to do my part, and then we both need to be held accountable. Let's work together. Wouldn't that be a message? Donald Trump and Ted Wheeler working together to help move this country forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Of course, as it relates to the Portland mayor, on the hand, he's criticizing the president, blaming him for the hate and division in this country. And on the other hand saying that he would work with him.

The president for his part would probably point out that he has offered to send federal assistance to Portland, something that Ted Wheeler has refused. But of course, the president is certainly using this as part of his campaign strategy, using this as part of his message of law and order, which he's carrying into this 2020 presidential campaign, Ana.

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond from the White House, thanks. It's you who has created the hatred. That is the Portland mayor's message to President Trump. We'll discuss more with our reporters and analyst after a quick break. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEELER: Yesterday's events began with hundreds of cars filled with supporters of the president's, rallying in Clackamas County and then driving through downtown Portland. They were supported and energized by the president himself.

You've tried to divide us more than every other figure in modern history, and now you want me to stop the violence that you helped create. What America needs is for you to be stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: We are back now with our breaking news. And joining us again is CNN law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey as well as White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, April Ryan, and former presidential adviser to four U.S. presidents, both Democratic and Republican, David Gergen.

So David, Democrats say the president isn't just using this violence now to his advantage, but that he's actually agitating it. Do you agree? GERGEN: Well, I think he is certainly fanning the flames. He's

certainly (inaudible). He's certainly exploiting it whether he's openly advocating, I think it's just a touch too far, but I think he's doing a lot of things that are objectionable and inappropriate.

CABRERA: Commissioner Ramsey, the president says now the National Guard needs to move into Portland. He continues to reiterate that that's the only thing that will stop this violence. The mayor has refused. Is the National Guard needed?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, that's going to be up to them to decide what resources they need but they better do something because they obviously do not have sufficient resources available to them. And like what happened last night, personally, I would use whatever resources I had at my disposal.

And if that included the National Guard, then so be it. It be the National Guard, state police, maybe MOU even from a neighboring state or jurisdiction. They've got to tamp this thing down. It's not going to resolve itself. And I think it starts by having a strong presence on the street to keep people calm, at least keep them separated best you can so you don't have this kind of violent interaction that we saw before.

CABRERA: April, despite Trump currently being president, Republicans keep aligning this violence with Joe Biden, saying no one will be safe in his America. Are those attacks working?

RYAN: You know, I just saw something on Twitter from Don, Jr. trying to say this is the Biden riot, which is not the truth. His father stoked this and continues to take a ton of kerosene on a burning flame and it keeps growing and growing.

At the end of the day and I'm going to give you this, and we need to go back to the basics when it comes to this. It may not be political for some, but let's go to the basics. What is racism? Racism is when power and prejudice meet at the intersection and we are at that intersection now.

And the question is, what will those who have enabled the president do to stop this moment in history from getting worse, with the anticipation of this violence getting worse. One, we need to hear from Mitch McConnell. Two, we need to hear from Lindsey Graham. Three, we need to hear from Tim Scott, to find out what is going on with them and their conversations with the president to make the president stop.

We are now entering into an election in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. It's too much going on. It's too much going on. And it's for this president, and I have covered -- I'm not like David, as many presidents as he's been with -- but I have covered four presidents over the last 23 years. I've never seen anything like this.

Normally there's a soaring speech to bring unity. This is division at its worst on a racial and political basis. So what will the Republicans do? We're waiting to see what they'll say to calm this president down. CABRERA: Everybody, thank you so much for your insights and your

perspective. I really appreciate it. David Gergen, April Ryan and Commissioner Ramsey.

Also breaking, Joe Biden condemning the violence in Portland and issuing a challenge to the president. We'll discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

CABRERA: America is in crisis and right now Portland and Kenosha are tinderboxes. Political divisiveness has gone from ugly words to deadly deeds. In Kenosha, two people were killed earlier this week by an armed vigilante. One person killed in Portland last night after a night of confrontations between Trump supporters and racial justice protesters. The mayor of Portland just spoke and he places the blame squarely at the feet of the president. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEELER: Now, you're attacking Democratic mayors and the very institutions of democracy that have served this nation well since its founding. Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?

It's you who have created the hate and the division. It's you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have, and it's you who claimed that white supremacists are good people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The president was quick to respond in a series of tweets slamming Mayor Wheeler. Joining us now is Margaret Hoover, CNN political commentator and the host of "Firing Line" on PBS. And also with us, John Avlon, CNN senior political analyst and author of "Washington's Farewell" and "Wingnuts." Good to see you guys. Wow, what a busy news day again.

[17:34:57]

Margaret, let my start with you. Two mayors, one message to president Trump, whether it's Kenosha where the mayor expressed concern ahead of the president's planned trip there on Tuesday or Portland just moments ago.

They are concerned with the role the president is playing. Can President Trump continue to try to sell this message to voters, that he is the solution to what we are seeing playing out in the streets?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he sold himself as the solution four years ago if you recall. He said at the nominating convention in 2016, I alone can fix it. So, it's tough when you run that you're going to fix the American carnage that then ends up unfolding on your watch when you are president. Now, I just want to say briefly, Ana, I worked for a Republican

president in the White House and my job in the intergovernmental agent office was to reach out to mayors and county officials on the behalf of the president.

And I will tell you, most presidents would be working directly with mayors, whether Republican or Democrat, to try to bring calm and peace and security to the city and offer whatever resources they need indeed that context. That is the opposite of the approach of the White House right now as we're seeing play out before our eyes.

CABRERA: And John, you too have worked for Democrats and Republicans. What are your thoughts?

JOHN AVLON, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I have. Well, first of all, I mean, this is -- mayors and governors and presidents should work together in a time of crisis. It's ultimately, as Harry Truman said, the buck stops at the Oval Office with the president.

This president seems either unable or unwilling to reunite the nation at a time when this is happening on his watch, and his campaign is trying to, you know, pull some voodoo to sort of say, hey, this American carnage that's happening on my watch is actually the Democratic mayors' fault. They're starting to push back.

But the president has got to lead. The president's job is to unite the nation and this president seems incapable or uninterested in doing so. And that's why this election is going to be a referendum on his leadership whether he wants it to be or not.

HOOVER: Could I just add one point though. I mean, this mayor is also not doing a great job of being conciliatory or bringing peace to his streets. I mean, by coming out and then the day after somebody is shot in his streets because of violent protest, to blame the president of the United States is grandstanding and not solving the problem in his own backyard.

AVLON: Let me push back on my bride here. First of all, we've had difficulties in American streets before, but this is the first time we've seen this level of politicized violence with the racial undertone. You know, you had Trump supporters clashing with protesters around the issues of police violence.

You know, Joe Biden just put out a statement condemning violence whether it comes from the right or the left, that's the right thing to do. We should hear the same kind of thing from the president.

HOOVER: No doubt.

AVLON: But typically, you know, he's more concerned about protecting his right flank because he feels these people like him. The fact this is politicized in partisan violence is what makes it something new and troubling on the American spectrum.

CABRERA: Let me read part of the statement we got from Joe Biden today. He says, "Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same. It does not matter if you find the political views of your opponent abhorrent. Any loss of life is a tragedy."

Guys, how does Biden now counter Trump's law and order message and prove to voters he is the one America needs right now?

AVLON: Statements like that.

HOOVE: Look, I think -- statements like that help, but I also think getting out of the basement and going to southwestern Pennsylvania like he's going to do tomorrow and posing the question, do you feel safe in America today? I mean, that is a Biden changing his tone, changing his strategy and going on the offense.

AVLON: Yes.

HOOVER: Which is, by the way, what I think as a strategist, he should have been doing a long time ago because this has all happened on Donald Trump's watch. So, actually, I think Joe Biden is -- not that I'm giving advice to the Democrats, but I think he's doing exactly the right thing here.

The Republicans and Donald Trump particularly, run a real risk by saying, you know, Biden is just not being strong enough on law and order because now all he has to do is be strong on law and order and then he clears another low bar that Trump has set for him.

AVLON: And he needs to be going out. You know, George Packer wrote a great essay in "The Atlantic" about how he needs to go to Kenosha. Apparently he's not going to Kenosha, but he needs to go out and speak from the heart without notes about the need to reunite the nation. You know, the president's campaign is already pushing out this meme, you know, jobs not mobs.

This is a fight they want to have. And that's a very disturbing thing when people feel they'll politically benefit from division and violence particularly when they're in the White House.

But Biden needs to rise above, he needs to make statements like that, from the heart, off the cuff and get on the road and play offense. In American politics, if you're playing defense, because in American politics, if you're playing defense, you're trying not to lose, that's when you lose.

CABRERA: Would it be smart for him to go to Kenosha? The president is going to Kenosha on Tuesday obviously. Instead, you know, Joe Biden is going to Pennsylvania where he's going to make this statement as you mentioned. It's being touted as, you know, laying out a core question voters face in this election -- are you safe in Donald Trump's America?

[17:39:59]

Is he missing an opportunity to go right to the heart of where, you know, the energy is the hottest right now?

HOOVER: Ana, I've never been in the business of giving Democrats advice, but I will say, it seems pretty obvious to me. If the president is going there, he should be going to Wisconsin. By the way, take a page from the playbook in 2016 and learn what Hillary Clinton didn't do. She didn't go to Wisconsin.

AVLON: Go to Wisconsin. But, you know, the question and framing, you know, Reagan famously said, you know, are you better off now than we were four years ago? The question now is, is our country better off now than we were four years ago? And the answer is no.

CABRERA: Speaking of four years ago, this is what Donald Trump said as candidate Trump four years ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Beginning on January 20th of 2017, safety will be restored. The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Again, that was four years ago. The president has had his time in office. John, Margaret, who wants to go first?

HOOVER: Look, I think, I -- the president's -- me. The president's argument would be that he's doing that.

CABRERA: Ladies first.

HOOVER: The problem is he's quite clearly not doing it for all Americans. And it's become pretty clear to independent voters, suburban women, African-Americans, people of color, seniors, that he's -- the perception is he's looking out for one group of people and he's playing to the base and he's playing for 270, but he's not trying to unite the country and we all can tell.

CABRERA: John, I'm not so sure that's his perception. I think the president is quite -- quite mindful that he's not necessarily trying to, you know, play to all Americans in how he is talking and what he's proposing.

AVLON: He's always had a divide to conger strategy. It has always been us against them, but that's contrary to the responsibility of the president in the United States and that's where this disconnect is. The fact he's running for reelection, not apparently even trying to win the popular vote, but simply trying to slice and dice to get a narrow electoral win itself is such a departure from anything we've seen.

And, you know, he talked about American carnage in his inaugural speech. We're living through American carnage. In the streets of our cities, in the pandemic response which is, you know, been so far beyond anything the rest of the world has seen. Four percent of the world's population, 22 percent of the deaths today.

This is American carnage on his watch. He wants to play the law and order card because he thinks it's a strong suit. He was echoing Nixon four years ago. This is on his watch. This is -- we are reaping what we've sown from Donald Trump's presidency in America right now unfortunately.

CABRERA: John Avlon and Margaret Hoover, it's always good to have you here. Good to have you back. Thank you.

AVLON: Take care.

CABRERA: Our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment, but first I want to turn it over to Christine Romans with your "Before the Bell" report.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Ana. Can the stock market keep setting records with Main Street mired in a health and jobs crisis? Record highs for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq with millions of people out of work. It's a reminder the stock market is not the economy.

New evidence the road to recovery will be long. We learned last week after five months of layoffs during the week ending August 8th, more than 27 million people are receiving some sort of a jobless check. This week, investors turn their attention to the August jobs report.

Will the jobs recovery continue or has it stalled? The president and the White House have repeatedly taken credit for a record 9 million jobs added in May, June and July, ignoring the more than 22 million jobs wiped out in March and April. The jobs hole is still deep, down almost 13 million jobs in this pandemic.

Lasting damage is a key concern. A majority of the members of the prestigious National Association for Business Economics, don't expect the jobs market to fully recover until 2022 at the earliest. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:00]

CABRERA: Today, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff telling CNN it is possible the House could subpoena intelligence officials to testify on election security after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed members of Congress it will no longer deliver in-person briefings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This intelligence paid for by taxpayers doesn't belong to Donald Trump. It doesn't belong to the intelligence agencies. It belongs to the American people. The agencies are merely the custodians of that information.

And the American people ought to know what Russia is doing. They ought to know their president is unwilling to stand up to Vladimir Putin. They ought to know that senators like Ron Johnson are pushing a Kremlin false narrative about Joe Biden and doing it knowingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Time now for your weekly presidential brief with CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd. Sam, what are the requirements for the Director of National Intelligence to brief Congress?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, by law, Ana, the DNI is required to provide intelligence to Congress and its committees that is timely, objective and free of political considerations.

[17:49:59]

By law, the president is required to keep congressional committees fully and currently informed on intelligence activities. You know, Ana, based on my experience, it would be impossible for the executive branch to meet its statutory obligation if they solely rely on written assessments from the DNI.

A failure to meet statutory obligations inhibits Congress' ability to perform oversight, but there are also security risks. Remember, lawmakers have been targeted by election attacks and lawmakers need information if they're going to act to keep us safe. These security risks really argue for briefing more lawmakers not less when it comes to election security.

CABRERA: The chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate, Republican Senator Ron Johnson, told CNN's Dana Bash this morning that this was being blown out of proportion. What's your reaction to that?

VINOGRAD: One, unpatriotic thing to say, but then again, Senator Johnson has been accused of amplifying a Russian influenced operation. Now, I've digested a lot of intelligence and I can't think of a single time I received a written assessment on a complex threat from the DNI that was not accompanied by an oral briefing.

That's because oral briefings give DNI briefers the opportunity to provide context, content, and to answer questions from the recipients. Written assessments alone just don't cut it. Now, we have heard reports of members of the intelligence community like DOJ and DHS are going to continue these oral briefings.

But if the DNI sits on the sidelines that is still a liability from an intelligence standpoint. The DNI was created after 9/11 to integrate and coordinate intelligence analysis from across the community. The DNI needs to give oral briefings unless we want to risk repeating mistakes and intelligence failures from our past.

CABRERA: Now, this morning, the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, defended this decision saying information had been leaked in the past. Is that a reasonable reason for making this change? VINOGRAD: Ana, I was not born yesterday and it cannot be a coincidence

that Radcliffe has canceled a briefing on a threat stream the president finds politically inconvenient. This wreaks of censorship and there is precedent here.

In 2019, the DNI gave a worldwide threat assessment briefing that caused the president to go ballistic. The president found that the assessment didn't jive with his personal talking points. This year that briefing has been canceled and key intelligence has not gone to Congress.

The GOP excuse that these briefings were canceled because of leaks also just doesn't hold water. They're still providing written assessments which can leak just as easily as oral briefings. The only credible explanation here is that Radcliffe doesn't want to risk upsetting the president.

Remember, his predecessor, Joseph Maguire was fired after a DNI briefer said that Putin still preferred potus. The president didn't like that assessment. It appears the DNI Radcliffe is prioritizing placating potus over protecting Americans and he really needs to get his priorities in check.

CABRERA: We'll see where this goes next. Thank you so much as always, Sam Vinograd.

VINOGRAD: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Finally tonight, it has been 15 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall and New Orleans still has not fully recovered. We meet up with a non-profit that continues to help residents rebuild.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you drive through the 9th ward, you still see Katrina 15 years later. If you had the same house in a white neighborhood or a black neighborhood, the African-American family got less to rebuild because it was worth less before the storm because of red lining.

People are still struggling. Rebuilding Together New Orleans provides critical home repairs to low-income families. We've worked on 17,050 houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found it strange to be a refugee and was from the United States, but when I'd seen us on TV, that's when it hit me. That was us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Felix' home was completely devastated by the storm. He was essentially living in a gutted partially rebuilt home. There are hundreds of Mr. Felix's out there still to this it day. We know that our work is now more important today than it was six months ago.

People are out of work. They have literally no way to make a home repair. Whether you're displaced by a natural disaster or you're stuck at home because of the pandemic, everyone should be able to be safe in their home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That does it more me today. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thank you so mcuh for being with me. My colleague Wolf Blitzer is up next with a special edition of "The Situation Room." have a great night and a great week. See you back here next week.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.