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Trump to Pardon Flynn as Election Legal Battles Wind Down; Sustained Food Distribution Efforts in Georgia as San Antonio Institutes Curfew with COVID-19 Cases Rising; Digital Divide Increases Educational Disparities During Remote Learning. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired November 26, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And he wrote this -- in 2018, remember, when he was in this process because this has been a four- year ordeal with Flynn.
Quote -- to Flynn he said this in court, "All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States. That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out."
And Flynn, under oath, said, quote, "I recognize the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong. I am working to set them right."
That stuff matters when it's being done by the national security adviser of the United States, no?
JIM SCHULTZ, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: No question that it matters. But at the end of the day, the justice system -- in this case the Justice Department, granted it was Trump's Justice Department but nonetheless the Justice Department -- made a determination not to move forward with this case. And I think that piece of it right --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Which sparks such -- which sparks such outrage against (ph) some of the prosecutors (ph) there --
SCHULTZ: Right, I know, but --
HARLOW: -- that they left the division.
SCHULTZ: Right, but in this instance, there was -- the Justice Department made a determination, it's within the president's province to do so. He's doing so lawfully. You know, we've seen a lot of other controversial pardons in the past from the Clinton Administration and Marc Rich and other --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: I get it, Marc Rich.
SCHULTZ: -- during the Bush administration -- HARLOW: -- I hear you.
SCHULTZ: -- I mean all of these things -- all of these issues. And I'm not playing that, you know -- but this happens throughout just about every administration --
HARLOW: OK.
SCHULTZ: -- including the Bush administration.
HARLOW: OK. Let me ask you something else because you have been willing to say what I don't think anyone else who worked in the White House has -- as recently as you has said, and what many Republicans won't say. You said -- you did a great interview with my colleague Chris Cuomo saying there is no evidence of widespread election fraud here, that the president doesn't have evidence, his legal team doesn't have evidence. We've got to move on.
But listen to this, this is the president calling in yesterday to this thing that Rudy Giuliani and others had, still trying to fight this in Pennsylvania -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): Turn the election over because there's no doubt we have all the evidence, we have all the affidavits, we have everything. All we need is to have some judge listen to it properly without having a political opinion or having another kind of a problem because we have everything. And by the way, the evidence is pouring in now as we speak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: I mean, do I need to list the number of judges -- Republicans, Trump appointees -- who have thrown these out, case after case after case? What's your message to the president?
SCHULTZ: Let's just use -- well if I'm the president's lawyer, I'm looking at him (ph) and speaking truth to power. And if I'm Rudy Giuliani and the rest of his team, I think they should be doing the same. I mean, Matthew Brann, who's a longtime Republican, is an appointed judge on the Federal District Court, wrote a scathing opinion against the evidence that was presented --
HARLOW: Frankenstein-like monster, his words.
SCHULTZ: -- or (ph) the lack of evidence that -- right, that Rudy Giuliani presented to the court. So yes, I think Giuliani is becoming dangerously close from time to time to being sanctioned in some of these cases. Filing a case in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals when it hadn't even gone to the district court to ask for relief that, quite frankly, is a head-scratcher to me, they're asking for, you know, not -- the election not to be certified, but that the effect of the certification not proceed. So I'm not even sure what the relief they were asking for. But at the end of the day, there's also a case filed out there by
Congressman Mike Kelly. And that really cut at the constitutional core of whether, you know, the Pennsylvania changing its absentee ballots to now include mail-in ballots, essentially the same process except where you don't have to check a box that you're not available, was unconstitutional and going to be a constitutional amendment associated with that.
And that case, Judge Patricia McCullough, ruled in Kelly's favor at least preliminarily in that case. But you have to remember, that was a law that was duly passed by the Republican legislature, signed by a --
HARLOW: Yes.
SCHULTZ: -- Democratic governor. People relied upon that, the secretary of state relied upon that in setting rules for the election. A judge is going to be very hard-pressed to turn around and overturn valid -- overturn votes that voters were relying upon the rules of the game in casting.
So it's going to be very difficult for this, the remedy to have any outcome on the election whatsoever as it relates to Pennsylvania, even if they're successful in that case.
HARLOW: Jim Schultz, good to have you. Thanks so much.
SCHULTZ: Thanks for having me, take care.
HARLOW: Enjoy Thanksgiving.
[10:34:27]
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: If you are sitting around a table with food this Thanksgiving, count your blessings. Because the need for food pantries has been even greater than many, many, many prior years. Ryan Young is in Atlanta this morning, he joins us now.
Ryan, you're at a charity event that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, helping families in a new way. What can you tell us?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I've covered this event quite a few times, and usually it's on the inside of this building and they do haircuts and they pass out clothes, but that's all changed because of the pandemic. Also the customers have changed, quite honestly. There's a long line of cars that are also here, there are people who have volunteered here in the past who are now receiving food.
In fact, one of the organizers compared this to Katrina, the largest, longest sustained effort they've had to give food. They said this is not just about Thanksgiving, this is an extended effort for the last few months. If you turn this direction here, you can see the line, it comes down this way and then people get their bags of food and other supplies that they desperately need.
[10:40:05]
Look, this has been tough for a lot of people. When you think about the COVID pandemic, there are people who are losing their homes and not able to put food on the table for their families, and of course Thanksgiving kind of highlights all that.
In fact, we talked to one veteran who's having a tough time in life right now, and he says without an event like this, he doesn't know what he would do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS ALANIZ, ATTENDING FOOD DISTRIBUTION: I'm just extremely grateful that there is still people and organizations that are helping when you need help. You know, I survive, try to survive. I work the day labor jobs, you know, make a little money. And when I need help, I go to these events.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yes, you can see Raphael Warnock, who's running for Senate, he's actually helping pass out some of the food here as well.
But really, some of the stories about the cars that lined up here early this morning, Poppy, with kids and their families in their cars. And of course people will say, well, maybe they'll go home and eat. Well, the truth of the matter is, there's a lot of people who are showing up here who eat that meal in their car tonight because they have no place to go.
They are concerned about evictions here, they are concerned about how this pandemic is creating another economic pandemic for people who don't have any place to go and don't have anything, tough during Thanksgiving but it's good to see all these volunteers out here helping.
HARLOW: You're so right, they're all saints. Conversations we all need to be having with our kids around the table today, is how fortunate they are and how much they have to be grateful for if they do have food on that table. Ryan Young, thank you for the reporting this morning.
Let's go to Texas now, where the state just saw its most new COVID cases ever in a single day, over 14,000. Ed Lavandera joins us this morning in Dallas.
Ed, good morning. That has prompted a new curfew for parts of the state?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Poppy, good morning and Happy Thanksgiving. The officials in San Antonio and Bexar County, just south of Austin, Texas are instituting a curfew for this Thanksgiving weekend from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. People not allowed out, restaurants are supposed to be shut down and limited to takeout and drive-through early. This extends through Monday morning.
And city and county officials say they're instituting this curfew because the area is seeing another surge of coronavirus cases that compares to what we saw there back in July, the initial surge of these cases here in the state.
And officials there also say that the last couple of surges that kicked up in Bexar County and in San Antonio followed holiday weekends, so they're instituting this curfew to help prevent another one of these surges that they're worried of seeing played out here in the week after Thanksgiving.
This comes, Poppy, in Texas, where we're now approaching 1.2 million coronavirus cases. It is the state with the highest number of cases across the country, and it's also the second -- the state with the second-highest number of coronavirus deaths.
But despite all of that, the governor here says that there is no plan to institute more economic shutdown in the state despite the numbers that we're seeing right now -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Ed, it's very, very, very distressing to see that kind of number out of Texas. I hope this curfew is helpful. Thanks very much for the reporting.
Well, families struggling with so much this year, especially those who are struggling to keep up with remote learning -- and it is exposing a severe digital divide for children across this country, having a real impact. We're going to talk to a student and his mother who are living it right now.
[10:43:45]
And this afternoon, CNN brings you the story of Joe Biden and his long journey from receiving the Democratic Party presidential nomination this summer to becoming the president-elect. Don't miss "FIGHT FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: JOE BIDEN'S LONG JOURNEY." I can tell you it is fascinating. It starts 4:00 p.m. Eastern, today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Well after Thanksgiving, millions of students are going to go back to school. But most of them are going online, right? Digital learning. But thousands won't because they were never enrolled. Today, 7,000 students from one Florida district are missing, many due to evictions or because they don't have a computer to even take their remote classes, let alone do any schoolwork.
Jason Jankovic knows the struggle. When his high school closed last spring, he and his mom didn't have a laptop and it took his school over a month to get him a working one. Because of that and because of a lack of good Wi-Fi, he is still struggling just to learn online today. TEXT: Guilford County, NC Schools: 66 percent of homes below the
poverty line; 66 percent of students don't have high-speed internet; 40 percent of students failed one or more classes in Q1
HARLOW: And he's not alone. In his school district, 66 percent of families live below the poverty line, 66 percent of students don't have high-speed internet and 40 percent of students failed at least one course this semester.
Jason and his mom Belkis are with me. Good morning, thank you for being here. As a parent, this is an injustice that is happening across this country that has to be solved. And we really wanted to share your story just to bring to light what it's like to go through this, so thank you for being with us this morning.
Jason, I want to note you are passing all your classes, which is really something to celebrate given all the challenges you faced. Can you tell us what it's been like for you to go through this?
JASON JANKOVIC, 10TH GRADE STUDENT: it's been really hard and tough because I had to go through two laptops and I can't really get a good connection, and it's hard for me to talk through the laptop because the computer mike don't work, so it's been really tough. And then some of the work I try to submit to my teachers won't go through.
[10:50:15]
HARLOW: So I mean, you -- and what grade are you in?
J. JANKOVIC: Tenth.
HARLOW: Tenth grade. I mean, this is a really important year when it comes to getting ready to apply for college and all of that.
For you, Belkis, what's it like as your mother, sitting beside him, you know, I can't imagine the frustration.
BELKIS JANKOVIC, MOTHER OF STUDENT: It's very frustrating. Because one, I work. And also to deal with this frustration with the laptop crashing and the site crashing. It's rough (ph) because we fell behind a month, and we still had to go ahead and catch up for that whole month just to get him back on track and it was very difficult.
But thanks to the assistant principal (INAUDIBLE), he stayed on top, he was checking on me, he even came to the house to make sure that the laptop was working. And if it crashed, it was another way to try to do the work.
But very stressful. Especially I have to work and be home and help him at the same time too, it was very overwhelming. But I'm glad that he (INAUDIBLE) it was very rough.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Of course it is. For people watching right now who might ask, well, how are they talking to you now? How do they have a good internet connection now? It's actually not that, you're using -- this is through cell service that you're able to talk to us.
B. JANKOVIC: Yes, it's because --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Just to make clear for people.
B. JANKOVIC: Yes, it's because the laptop still -- even right now, the laptop still kind of crashes on us, like we can't even do -- we have to have (INAUDIBLE) which is rough because they want to see the student to check in that they're there instead of absent. So when that laptop starts to freeze, (INAUDIBLE) start marking absent so it's very, very difficult, we're still having issues with that.
So he passed, barely passed but he passed. So as a parent, I'm (INAUDIBLE) calling them, talking to them. It's very, very difficult to the point that my baby over here was so frustrated he wanted to give up and said I hate school, I don't want to be in school --
HARLOW: No.
B. JANKOVIC: -- so --
HARLOW: No giving up, Jason, you're so close. No giving up. But if any kind viewer watching right now feels like sending a good laptop, I'll make sure to connect them with you guys.
Hey, Jason --
(CROSSTALK)
B. JANKOVIC: Yes.
HARLOW: -- I know that one of your teachers has been making a huge effort, and that is Mrs. Cox. Let me just pull this up because we have a picture of this note, OK? Let me read it, this is a note she wrote for you.
"Jason, I've really enjoyed seeing you in class. I'm proud of you for making such good progress in class. Love, Mrs. Cox."
Can you tell us a little bit about her, if she's watching right now? What does it mean to you to have a teacher like this?
J. JANKOVIC: It feels really good because I never really had a teacher that'll check up on me. And it's rough because most teachers only, like, check up on you or tell you that, you know, you're not doing good, you're not doing so good. And for her to check up on me, send me a letter directly to me saying, you know, you're doing good, I'm proud of you and stuff like that, actually made me feel good.
HARLOW: Wow, we see a picture of her right there. There are so many Mrs. Coxes out there that change lives. I'm glad that you have her.
You know, it's amazing to think that your situation, Jason, isn't even the worst situation in the district. The numbers that we got from the district are that 5,000 kids in your district don't have a device at all. Do you have friends that literally just can't attend because they don't have any connectivity or any laptop?
J. JANKOVIC: I (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: OK.
B. JANKOVIC: I know a few students that live in our neighborhood that actually are like family to us that are struggling with the laptops. It's like four of them, the Wilsons (ph) family, they are four -- actually five kids in the house who have to work on two or three laptops and take turns just to make it work, so it's (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: I guess, Belkis, my final question to you would be, you know, the fact that this is happening in America, the richest nation on earth, in 2020, that literally hundreds of thousands of kids, if not millions, can't go to school because they don't have connectivity or they don't have a laptop.
As so many people sit around their Thanksgiving tables today with so much, what is your message to them?
B. JANKOVIC: Yes. I want you guys to know that you're not alone, don't give up. There's ways you can get help, there's a way that you can actually find a way by reaching out to your schools, to your teachers, there's (ph) out there, places that donate (ph). Just don't give up.
It's a struggle for me as a single parent also, so just keep trying, motivate your child, call the schools, call churches, anywhere that you can so you can get the help that you need. It's rough, this pandemic is putting stress on everyone mentally, physically and emotionally. But school is a must, so we have to guide our students the best way we can for them to (INAUDIBLE) learning.
This --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Yes. Good for you, Belkis. You're doing so much at work and being a single mom.
[10:55:04]
Jason, we've got to go. But quickly, what do you want to be when you graduate?
J. JANKOVIC: I'm thinking about going to the Marines.
B. JANKOVIC: Yay.
HARLOW: Look at that, make our country proud. Jason, Belkis, thank you both and Happy Thanksgiving.
B. JANKOVIC: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone --
J. JANKOVIC: Happy Thanksgiving --
B. JANKOVIC: -- thank you. Have a blessed day.
HARLOW: Bye, thank you, you too.
Thanks to all of you for joining us on this Thanksgiving. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving, full of gratitude for all that you do have.
I'm Poppy Harlow. A special edition of NEWSROOM with Boris Sanchez is next.
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