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Biden's A.G. Pick Faces Senate Questions at Confirmation Hearing; Airlines Ground Dozens of Boeing Jets after Failure on United Flight; Biden's Pick for Budget Director on Brink of Collapse; Supreme Court Allows NY Prosecutors to Get Trump Taxes. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 22, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:59]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Judge Merrick Garland is now halfway through day one of his confirmation hearing for attorney general.

So far, Judge Garland has vowed to keep politics out of the Department of Justice and says his number-one priority is prosecuting the January 6th riot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: I think this was the most heinous attack on the democratic processes that I've ever seen and one that I never expected to see in my lifetime. One of the very first things I will do is get a briefing on the progress of this investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN legal analyst, Carrie Cordero, and CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, back with us now.

It was interesting, Gloria, because he vowed to keep politics out of it. But that's almost impossible right, considering what has happened in the last four years and how politicized the DOJ has become.

Republicans have made clear they're looking for some assurances on some big issues, like Hunter Biden, former President Trump.

What did you think about what you heard on that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: First of all, can we just say how rich it is that Republicans are talking about how terrible it would be if the Justice Department were politicized after Attorney General Barr put his thumb on the scale of justice time and time again.

And we can all name those instances, starting back with the way he interpreted the Mueller report and the Roger Stone sentencing and on and on.

But let's put that aside because we know irony is dead. And then let's just say that how he handled this question of politicizing the Justice Department.

What he said quite clearly is the president of the United States determines policy. I work for the president. My job as attorney general is to tell the president whether what he wants to do is, in fact, in keeping with the law or not.

It's his job to talk about the law. It's the president's job to talk about policy.

KEILAR: And he, Carrie, was speaking to Senator Feinstein and he emphatically said he works in the public's interest and not the president's interest.

What do you think the DOJ is going to look like under Merrick Garland?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think he is going to spend every day working to do right by the law and to bring honor to the department and to restore the honor that is the department that was his experience from being a line prosecutor all the way on up to senior levels.

One of the things he said right at the very top of his statement was that he is not there to serve an individual. He's there to serve the American people. So that was his message from the very beginning of his opening.

He made clear that he is going to prosecute the January 6th insurrection to the full extent of the law. And he has long experience in prosecuting incidents of domestic terrorism.

The other area that I thought he focused so much on is the civil rights area, that so much of the department's work is going to be focused on the issue of civil rights.

KEILAR: Yes. Very interesting.

Gloria Borger, Carrie Cordero, thank you so much to both of you.

BORGER: Thanks.

[13:34:17]

KEILAR: Next, airlines grounding dozens of Boeing jets after that horrifying incident on a United flight when an engine caught fire, sending debris onto the ground below. We'll have a live explanation of what went wrong and what investigators are looking for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Boeing is now recommending that airlines suspend flying their 777 jets that has the same engine as the Denver flight you see here that was involved in this near catastrophic explosion over the weekend.

The engine on the United plane exploded on Saturday shortly after takeoff. The jet landed safely with 241 passengers and 10 crew members on board. But as you see here, not before scattering debris over neighborhoods near Denver.

United Airlines has already pulled all 24 planes with those Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines from its fleet. And the NTSB has opened an investigation, of course, into this.

[13:40:01]

Alan Armstrong is with us. He is a pilot and an aviation attorney.

Alan, you are standing in front of a plane engine there. Obviously, it's not a 777, but for purposes of illustration, this is essential in explaining to us the anatomy of a jet engine.

Tell us about that and what happens when one explodes.

ALAN ARMSTRONG, PILOT & AVIATION ATTORNEY: Well, Brianna, what we're going to show you here is this is where the break took place on the fan blade. These fan blades are titanium fan blades.

On the 777, on the Pratt & Whitney 4000, each fan blades weighs 30 pounds. Roughly one-half of the fan blade parted. It was a transverse break. It was perpendicular to the cord, perpendicular to the leading edge of the blade.

So about this much blade was propelled backward into the engine and impacted more blades, which essentially destroyed the engine.

Now, if you look at this engine carefully, and you look at other jet engines, you'll see, Brianna, there's a belt here. You see this green, this light green coating?

This is an armored belt and that keeps a broken blade from penetrating into the fuselage and killing people. So you'll see that this armor plating or this blade, or this protective area, in virtually all jet engines.

KEILAR: How does that happen? Look, I know the fan blades are much larger on this engine that we're talking about on that 777, but how does a titanium fan blade break like that?

ARMSTRONG: Brianna, these engines are flown for 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 hours. Typically, the inspection requirements are to replace the part on condition. That means, as long as it looks OK, we're going to keep on using it, OK?

The problem is the system is breaking down in terms of our capacity to identify fissures or incipient cracks in the blades. We have to get better at that. Because we had an episode in February 2018 and December 2020 very, very similar to this.

We have to get better at inspecting these blades and determining incipient fissures and cracks before they result in catastrophic engine failure.

KEILAR: I think one of the most amazing things about what happened, Alan, is that no one was injured. No one died on the ground or in this plane.

It sounds like, from what you're saying with the protection of this belt, this could have been a lot worse if it had failed in an even larger degree.

ARMSTRONG: We have been playing Russian Roulette with this problem for about three years now. We've known there's a problem with this. And we haven't investigated with enough vigor.

And now they FAA is grounding and issuing an emergency directive on these engines until we can find a fix to stop this problem.

KEILAR: Do you think that will do the trick?

ARMSTRONG: Oh, I certainly hope so. I think that, frankly, we haven't had enough attention focused on the problem historically. I think we'll get the attention this problem deserves now.

KEILAR: Yes. In a highly visible instance like this, I would think so.

Alan, thank you for being here. It just so helpful to give us this little show and tell. We appreciate it.

ARMSTRONG: You're very welcome.

KEILAR: More Senate Republicans plan to vote no on one of President Biden's cabinet picks. At the center of the controversy is what one Senator calls "mean tweets."

[13:43:46]

Plus, a leader in the Oath Keepers extremist group claims that she was given a VIP pass to the pro-Trump rally and met with Secret Service agents before the insurrection at the capitol.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:29]

KEILAR: The White House is vowing to fight for one of its most controversial nominees, but the battle for Neera Tanden's confirmation appears on the brink of collapse.

A major reason for this, Twitter. A big reminder to watch what you post.

President Biden has picked Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget.

But just days after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he wouldn't back her, citing her past tweets savaging a number of Manchin's colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, Republican Senator Susan Collins announcing today she will not back Tanden, either, because of those tweets.

Another critical note also coming today from Republican Senator Mitt Romney. His press secretary saying, quote, "He believes it's hard to return to comity and respect with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets."

The back story on Tanden, she is a former adviser to Hillary Clinton and the head of the Center of American Progress.

But it's her scores of tweets attacking top Republicans and others on social media that got lawmakers up in arms and had her on the hot seat at confirmation hearings already this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I have to tell you I'm very disturbed about your comments about people on social media. It's not just one or two. I think you deleted about 1,000 tweets.

You called Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): You wrote that Susan Collins is, quote, "the worst." That Tom Cotton is "a fraud." That "vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz." You called Leader McConnell "Moscow Mitch" and "Voldemort." And on and on.

[13:50:09]

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Your attacks were not just made against Republicans. There were vicious attacks made against progressives, people who I have worked with. Me personally.

NEERA TANDEN, OMB DIRECTOR NOMINEE: And I recognize that my language and my expressions on social media, you know, caused hurt people and I feel badly about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN congressional correspondent, Jessica Dean, is tracking this for us from Capitol Hill.

Is this nomination toast, is the question, Jess?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, at this point, it certain looks precarious. It's on very rocky ground.

We just heard from White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, in the last few minutes saying they still believe this is a viable nomination. They believe they can get the votes to get her confirmed.

But as you just laid out, the question now is: Where does that vote come from if Manchin is out and more moderate Republicans like Senator Mitt Romney, like Senator Susan Collins are saying they won't vote to confirm her?

And it really comes down -- they're all talking about her tweets, her inflammatory language. They call it inflammatory language.

And Jen Psaki asked about that by our Kaitlan Collins and wouldn't condone the language but she simply said that Tanden had been chosen by President Biden because she's qualified.

Here's more of what Psaki had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As it relates to Neera Tanden, let me just say that the president nominated her because he believes she'd be a stellar OMB director.

She's tested. She's a leading policy expert. She's led a think tank in this -- in Washington that has done a great deal of work on policy issues but has done a great deal of bipartisan work as well.

She's won widespread support and endorsements, ranging from labor unions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

And she's rolled up her sleeves and done the work. She's met with more than 35 Senators, Democrats and Republicans, herself.

This was a process. Confirmations, getting individuals confirmed is. She has two committee votes this week. And we're working towards that. And we'll continue to work in supporting her nomination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Again, the White House continuing to push Tanden's background, Brianna, reminding everybody she would be the first Asian-American woman to lead the OMB.

Talking about her lived experience growing up with a single mother and benefiting from some of the programs she would have a hand in working with and talking how that experience would make her a strong person in this position.

But the fact remains that the White House spent the weekend working the phones, according to Psaki, trying to find these votes.

It's what Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, also pledged to do, to find the votes to get Tanden over the finish line. But that remains to be seen.

We just heard from Senator Dick Durbin, the Democrat. He told our Manu Raju it's too soon, Brianna, to say if the nomination should be pulled.

But this is something that continues to develop here on the Hill really hour-by-hour today.

KEILAR: It's not looking good for her. And this may not have been a nomination designed for a Senate that is so narrowly divided here.

There's also this history, right, between Neera Tanden and Bernie Sanders. We got a glimpse of it there.

Many progressives think that she boosted Clinton's nomination for Democratic presidential nominee in 2016 at Sanders' expense.

DEAN: Right. There's this deep history within the Democratic Party. And you saw that clip. There was a long hearing there. It is a committee that Senator Bernie Sanders, ironically, chairs. He was responsible for her -- listening to her testimony, chairing that committee.

You heard him say during that hearing, he said, these weren't just Republicans that you attacked. You attacked people I worked with, you attacked me.

We saw Neera Tanden apologize for that. She promised Senator Sanders that her behavior would be different going forward, that it would be far more bipartisan, and also welcoming to different points of view as they moved forward.

So she really tried to make amends for that within that hearing.

But the fact remains, Brianna, she's got adversaries within the Democrat Party and also within the Republican Party. So there's just a lot of fractures there.

KEILAR: Yes, indeed.

Jessica, thank you for that report live for us from Capitol Hill.

Next, a Capitol Hill officer breaks his silence, saying that rioters called him a racial slur. We will hear his chilling story.

[13:54:20]

Plus, Senators grilling the man President Biden picked to be attorney general. Hear Merrick Garland's take on the capitol riots and what made him emotional during his testimony.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It's the top of the hour. I'm Brianna Keilar.

We begin with a major legal loss for Donald Trump. The Supreme Court says Trump's tax returns should be released, not to the public, but to New York City prosecutors, who have had to persevere through more than a year of legal wrangling to get these.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Manhattan D.A. to receive nine years of worth's Trump's tax documents. This would be from 2011 through to 2019.

The D.A. is seeking them in relation to a case over hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Daniels and McDougal claim to have had extramarital affairs with Trump before in office, allegations that Trump has denied. The president's former attorney, Michael Cohen, facilitated the

payment to Daniels and has been interviewed multiple times by the Manhattan D.A.

[14:00:01]

Today, Cohen is saying this: Quote, "The Supreme Court has now proclaimed that no one is above the law. Trump will, for the first time, have to take responsibility for his own dirty deeds."