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Trump Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey As Transition Begins; Turkey Pardon Reminds Of Questions Of Trump Presidential Pardons; Biden Introduces First Cabinet Picks, Including Tony Blinken As Secretary Of State; Dow Hits 30000 For First Time Ever As Biden Transition Begins. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired November 24, 2020 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After today's ceremony, these birds will retire under the care of skilled veterinarians at Iowa State University, a tremendous university in Ames.
Once there, people are all ages will be able to visit them and learn about poultry science, veterinary medicine, and the noble American tradition of farming. We love our farmers. I'm tell you.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we hope and we know it's going to happen that Corn and Cob have a very long, happy, and memorable life.
This year, our nation commemorates the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock.
After arriving in the new world, the brave men and women of the Mayflower endured a bitter and dangerous winter. Very, very dangerous winter.
Many sick, most starving, and all were praying for America. Thankfully, God heard their prayers.
From our earliest days, America has always been a story of perseverance and triumph, determination and strength, loyalty and faith.
This week, in a time that is very unusual but, in so many ways very, very good, what we've endured and been able to endure, with the vaccines now coming out, one after another.
It's an incredible thing that happened. One of the greatest medical achievements that this planet has ever seen.
But it's time to remember that we live in a great, great country. The greatest of them all. And there's nothing even close as far as I'm concerned.
Every American can be united in Thanksgiving to God for the incredible gifts he has bestowed upon us, the blessings of family, community, and just exceptional, beautiful and great country. It's greater than ever before.
During this Thanksgiving, we extend our eternal gratitude to the doctors, nurses, health care workers and scientists who have waged the battle against the China virus.
And we give thanks for the vaccines and therapies that will soon end the pandemic.
It's just, just such a tremendous feeling to know that they're coming. And they'll be coming probably starting next week, shortly thereafter.
We send our love to every member of the armed forces, and the law enforcement heroes risking their lives to keep America safe, to keep America great.
And as I say, America First. Shouldn't go away from that. America First.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We give thanks to the priceless freedoms that we've inherited.
And we ask God to watch over and protect our nation and its people during this incredible holiday and in all of the years to come. We ask that of God.
Once again, Melania and I wish to thank everybody for your incredible courtesies and also wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
And now it's time for the moment of our guest of honor. They've been waiting. And in this case, he's been waiting for this.
And bring them out.
Look at that beautiful, beautiful bird. Oh, so lucky. That is a lucky bird.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Corn, I hereby grant you a full pardon.
Thank you, Corn.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Beautiful.
(INAUDIBLE). Iowa farm.
(INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Beautiful.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right. Corn, the turkey, there, I have to say, doing an exemplary job during this light-hearted tradition of pardons. A gobble there at the exact appropriate time.
We've seen many Turkey pardons. That Turkey outdid himself.
Of course, this is all coming at a very serious time. And it comes amid questions about what else the president will do with his pardon power in the final days of his presidency.
Let's talk about this now with our CNN senior legal analyst, Laura Coates, and former federal and state prosecutor, Elie Honig. And also, we have Jim Acosta with us, joining us from this Rose Garden event.
I want to go to you first, Jim, if I could.
[14:35:02]
This is -- look, actually one of my favorite events when it comes to the White House. It's very cute.
But whenever you have this during a lame-duck presidency, it has a significant meaning in a way, because of the fact that pardons will be coming.
And when it comes to this president, it is -- it has more meaning than I'd say other presidents.
So you know, what are you expecting here in the coming weeks?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, I think we got a preview what we'll see in the coming weeks out of this traditional Thanksgiving Turkey pardon ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House.
You heard the president at the very beginning of these remarks talk about the Dow Jones hitting 30,000. He did it again at the briefing room earlier today. He did that a few minutes ago at the onset of the ceremony.
He also, at one point, referred to the coronavirus as the China virus. Almost sounding like he's back on the campaign trail, even though he's lost this election and is now the outgoing president.
There was even a dig at the former defense secretary, James Mattis, who had said in recent days --
KEILAR: Right.
ACOSTA: -- that the incoming Biden administration should abandon the so-called America First strategy that the president, President Trump has had during his four years in office.
You heard the president just a few moments ago saying that, repeating his preference for an American first strategy.
The president sounds as though he wants to get his digs in, wants to keep campaigning as if the election didn't happen.
But the other thing that is worth noting, Brianna, and we've seen it time and again since the November election. That is, this is a president who does not want to take questions from the press.
He had a very brief appearance in the briefing room, a minute long, 64 seconds long. Came in, touted the stock market and left without taking questions.
It's similar to what we see here this afternoon. He did the traditional Turkey pardon, walked out without taking any questions.
We should note the press is kept all the way in the back of the Rose Garden. Not much of a chance to have that opportunity.
The other thing to quickly point out, Brianna. This was one of the rare opportunities to see members of the first family out here. Both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were out here with their kids as the president was delivering these remarks.
We also saw members of the White House staff. These are folks we have not seen very much of over these last three weeks. They have been hunkering down behind closed doors not making many appearances in front of cameras.
We're seeing the White House out in force at the Rose Garden ceremonies this afternoon.
But, Brianna, no question about it. This was just another one of those episodes where the president is just sounding bizarre.
He's talking about the China virus, talking about America First, you know, a ceremony for pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey here at the White House -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Yes. It's odd. And coming on the heels of his talking about the Dow earlier.
It can't escape attention that the Dow also broke this key threshold right after the Trump administration finally, after weeks of obstruction, decided to formally accept that Joe Biden had won the election.
And so that's really the basis for these appearances of the president today. We're seeing him, Jim, for the first time where, you know, the ruse is up.
His legal challenges have foreclosed opportunity for him on that front. And now his administration is basically admitting reality.
And he is truly a lame-duck president here at this event that we just saw.
ACOSTA: That's right. He is the lame-duck. Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey.
I tried to ask him, as he was walking out of here, whether he plans on issues other pardons before leaving office. Brianna, that's the one thing we have to take note of in the coming weeks.
We've moved beyond the stage of the president trying to sabotage the election results.
Now I think the public will have to be watching closely, and we'll have to be watching closely whether the president will attempt to sabotage the next administration.
That is something, obviously, we'll all look for in the coming weeks.
The president is nursing some wounds here. No question about it. This is a president who likes to dish it back and forth with reporters.
He's just showing no appetite for that these days because he knows what questions will be asked, why haven't you formally conceded and so on.
He's at a point now where he wants the coverage and the attention but not the scrutiny that comes with it -- Brianna?
KEILAR: That's right.
Jim Acosta, thank you.
I want to talk now with Laura Coates and Elie Honig.
This brings up questions. A fun light-hearted event, the turkey pardon. One we look forward to every year.
There are questions how, Laura, the president is going to wield this power he has, a power he has always been very fascinated with. And that it's controversial for any president to use it but particularly so with this president.
[14:40:07]
What are you expecting?
LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I expect Corn and Cob will not be the last people this president actually pardons.
Although, he has been talking about it in this light-hearted tongue- and-cheek way, we can expect there are a number of familiar names you'll hear about that potentially could be pardoned by this president.
He's already pardoned people, by the way, throughout his administration, like Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the likes of others. Look for people like Michael Flynn, perhaps Paul Manafort. He's commuted the sentence already of Roger Stone.
Rudy Giuliani may be somebody as well. Areas of preemptive pardons. Preemptive pardons or those after convictions or guilty pleas.
It's a combination he could actually use, because, of course, you can pardon anyone for contact that occurred.
Whether pardoning himself for some reason, that's kind of uncharted territory. It could be explored at the Supreme Court.
Most certainly he could try to pardon people at the Trump Organization, his own family members. And like Jim Acosta referenced, no one could have a single question about it.
KEILAR: Yes.
Elie, our reporting shows he's expressed fascination about pardoning himself. About pardoning those around him who may potentially face scrutiny or have faced scrutiny but the conclusion of which is unclear. What about that?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna. The question whether the president can pardon himself, file that under things we don't know for sure because nobody ever tried it in our history.
The president said he tweeted before that he believes he has an absolute right to pardon himself.
People who support that, look at the Constitution and say there's no specific limitation, just that the president shall have power to pardon.
The other side of the argument, the framers abhorred, disliked self- dealing. That is the ultimate form of self-dealing. You cannot be a judge in your own case.
The Justice Department looked at this question of self-pardons back in 1974 and concluded that a president could not pardon himself.
What I think is telling is, even Rudy Giuliani, just a couple years ago, said that a presidential self-pardon would be unthinkable and would trigger an almost automatic impeachment.
I think when Rudy Giuliani is telling you that's too corrupt, that's too far, I think there's a real message there.
KEILAR: Rudy Giuliani, though, will say the opposite things at different times, too. We just have to be clear about that.
HONIG: Yes.
KEILAR: OK.
And, Laura, it's worth noting that the president, like we said, he has faced scrutiny, and he faces a number of lawsuits, defamation suits. There's a fraud investigation into the Trump Organization, a civil tax audit. There's a lawsuit from his own niece.
So he is facing -- what is his exposure coming out of the White House?
COATES: Extensive, for all the lists you actually provided. And even that's a partial list.
Remember, that DOJ memo everyone cites, often times, during the impeachment hearings, around it and leading up to it, the Mueller report, was all about a sitting president.
Once January 21st comes in around 12:00, essentially on January 20th, he's no longer sitting president so he will have legal exposure.
Which is why the ideas of the pardoning power is important. But only with respect to federal cases.
Remember, the pardon power, while it might be good to be the king, so to speak, and have that ability to do so, it has nothing to do with things happening in, say, a New York State. It has nothing to do with things around perhaps civil actions as well.
So there's a number of issues he needs to come to terms with.
And at that point in time, he won't have the opportunity to the those serving at his pleasure be at the helm of the Department of Justice.
Recently, there was that case in which he was accused of sexual assault by a former reporter in a retail store in New York some years ago. The DOJ tried to step in and intervene, as if they were him, to try to do away with the litigation.
Those opportunities will not be able to be afforded again. Even then, the court said no.
Look for a whole host of things like SDNY, Elie's former home, as well. And the idea of New York State attorney general, all of which is fair game, from taxation to money issues and all at the state level.
KEILAR: Laura, Elie, thank you to you both.
Laura, we'll be tuning in tonight. You'll be hosting "CNN TONIGHT" at 11:00 p.m.
Great to see you both.
HONIG: Thanks, Brianna.
COATES: Thank you.
[14:44:32]
KEILAR: More on our breaking news now. President-Elect Joe Biden introducing the first group of his cabinet picks. They all made veiled references about the last four years. We'll have takeaways and what their plans are in the first 100 days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We have more now on our breaking news. President-Elect Joe Biden introducing the first group of his cabinet picks, including secretary of state. His choice there, Tony Blinken, well known in diplomatic circles.
He said today he's eager to lead the State Department and that its civil servants that keep the United States safe and prosperous.
Here's CNN National Security Correspondent, Kylie Atwood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Biden's pick for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, has been part of Biden's brain trust for almost 20 years.
TONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: Mr. President-Elect, working for you, having you as a mentor and friend has been the greatest privilege of my professional life.
ATWOOD: Blinken worked with Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
During the Obama administration, he was in the room for major foreign policy decisions.
He served as the deputy national security adviser and the deputy secretary of state.
Blinken grew up in Paris and New York. His world view informed by his stepfather who survived the Holocaust. And his father by blood, a banker who served as a U.S. ambassador.
He is a fluent in French, well known in foreign policy circles around the world, and a proponent of international cooperation, key qualities as the Biden administration sets out to revive alliances.
[14:50:09]
Critics say those relationships were ignored and ransacked over the last four years by the Trump administration.
BLINKEN: If we know our democracy at home, if we revitalize our alliances with democracies in the first instance around the world, that creates a foundation for us to act, I believe, more effectively in dealing with lots of challenges.
ATWOOD: Acting alongside allies, the Biden team says they will put America back at the table.
BLINKEN: As the president-elect said, we can't solve all the world's problems alone. We need to be working with other countries. We need their cooperation. We need their partnership.
ATWOOD: Often critical of Trump's America First foreign policy and of outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the face of President Trump's effort to smear members of the diplomatic corps.
BLINKEN: He can either stand up for the men and women of the State Department, foreign service officers, civil servants, or frankly, he should leave.
ATWOOD: The news of his selection welcomed by American diplomats and by former President Obama.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's outstanding, smart, gracious, a skilled diplomat, well regarded around the world.
ATWOOD: Blinken called the messages from friends and colleagues humbling. "If confirmed, this is a mission I will take on with my full heart," he wrote on Twitter.
The 58-year-old father of two toddlers and guitar player, who even has music on Spotify, has a playful side. At one point, going on "Sesame Street" to discuss the intense challenges faced by refugees.
BLINKEN: One of the subjects we're going to talk about is something really important, refugees.
MUPPET: Oh, Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken from the State Department!
ATWOOD: The Trump administration put historic limits on the number of refugees coming into the U.S., limits Biden has pledged to raise dramatically.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Biden/Harris administration will restore America's historic role of protecting the vulnerable and defending the rights of refugees everywhere.
ATWOOD: It's one of many foreign-policy moves that Blinken's State Department would be tasked with implementing.
Blinken, who supported U.S. military action in Syria and Libya, has said the Biden team will maintain a commitment to Israeli security, but --
BLINKEN: In terms of the amount of time and focus and energy and resources, we need to be thinking about how we allocate them to best match our interests.
And again, I think that suggests more in the Asia-Pacific, more in our own hemisphere, and a sustained engagement in Europe.
ATWOOD: Determining how to handle China is seen as one of the biggest challenges facing Biden's foreign policy team.
BIDEN: What I will make China do is play by the international rules.
ATWOOD: Blinken and Biden call China a competitor. And they also say the U.S. needs to work with China when interests overlap.
The world is waiting to find out how Blinken will make that work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ATWOOD: Now, Brianna, Blinken said that it would be an honor of a lifetime if confirmed to work beside the diplomats here at the State Department.
And President-Elect Joe Biden reiterated he is one of his most trusted advisers.
Blinken also gave a little of his family history, talking about his family being refugees, folks who have come all across the world into the United States.
And a Holocaust survivor, giving some moving details about his stepfather, who was the only Holocaust survivor in his family, after four years in concentration camps, rescued by a U.S. soldier -- Brianna?
KEILAR: That was a very moving story.
Kylie, thank you very much, that report from the State Department.
And The Dow just reached 30,000 points for the first time ever. President Trump taking credit for it after predicting a crash if Joe Biden was elected. That clearly not happening. We'll have more on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:57:27]
KEILAR: On the heels of good vaccine news and the official launch of President-Elect Joe Biden's transition, the stock market has reached an incredible new high. The Dow touching 30,000 for the first time in history.
And Cristina Alesci is here to talk about it.
This is an incredible milestone given the year we've had with the pandemic and a struggling economy.
But tell me what that number means because this is certainly not tantamount to the economy.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICS & BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not. It's completely disconnected from the economy, Brianna, as you know.
But what I'm hearing from my sources is they are envisioning some kind of return to normalcy because we are on the verge of getting emergency use authorization and distribution of that vaccine.
But it's not just a return to normal in terms of a pandemic. It's also a return to normal in Washington, D.C.
Investors are seeing a peaceful transition of power take place. Remember, that was a chief concern among many investors leading up to the election, and now they're seeing it take place. And while Trump wants to take credit for this Dow reaching this
milestone, which is a ceremony on Wall Street more than anything else, a psychological level more than anything else.
While Trump is wanting to take credit for that, it's happening in a week that he is on his way out and Biden is naming his cabinet.
It seems like investors are having a positive reaction to some of those nominations, chiefly among them, foreign investors, is the Treasury secretary, which Biden nominated Janet Yellen for.
So all of those things should be taken into context when looking at this.
One very serious note I just want to strike here. Having covered the financial crisis and the recovery after the financial crisis, when you have these rallies, they do tend to go to the benefit the wealthy.
And every economist I speak to is growing very concerned that, as the stock market rallies and lower-income Americans still do not have return to normalcy from their standpoint, that we will see a continue divide between the wealthiest Americans and the ones with the lowest income.
That needs to be something that this administration, this incoming administration will address going forward. And hopefully, that means fiscal relief going forward -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Cristina, thank you so much for being with us.
And our special coverage will continue with Brooke Baldwin.
[15:00:04]
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: All right, we'll take it from here.
Good to be with you all. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.
