Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Begins Mass Deportation of Haitian Migrants from Texas; Dow Tumbles as Wall Street's Fears Turn to China; Trump Pushes GA to Nullify 2020 Results During State's Criminal Probe into His Effort to Overturn Election; Trump Reportedly Ramps Up Political Feud with Sen. McConnell; Soon, Biden and Macron to Speak Over Sub Spat. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired September 20, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Michael, you're there on the other side of the border. What are you seeing today?

MICHAEL ROA, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Ana. I'm here in Acuna, Mexico. Behind me, the Rio Grande. I'm a few miles south where we saw the thousands and thousands of migrants crossing that section of the river on Friday.

Mexican authorities have closed that part of the river but the migrants have made here. They are trying to cross to the United States.

You see them on the bank. The problem is that this section of the river is deeper. They are taking a risk of drowning.

We see women, children on the bank. They are trying to cross to Mexico during the day to purchase some groceries, water, supplies. Because they are complaining that they are not getting enough from the United States authorities.

We just saw a boat crossing by. That boat is patrolling the area trying to rescue migrants that are drowning. That's what they told us. They are from Mexican authorities Immigration Institute.

They are hearing that most of the people that are under the bridge have been deported. So many of them are thinking to come back to Mexico and rethink about their situations because it's really complex what is going on under the river.

The United States immigration authorities have said that in a period of about seven days they hope to evacuate all these migrants, more than 12,000 that are under the bridge, under this difficult situation.

The weather is too hot right here, Ana. And the problem, as you see in the bank, the people taking the risk of drowning because they want to come back to Mexico during the day to purchase groceries, to purchase water.

And there's still more people coming to the area. We're seeing more people coming through the area.

So the problem is going to be hard to solve because they are evacuating people from the bridge but there's more people coming and trying to cross to the United States -- Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Michael, what do we know about the repatriation flights and if that is having any impact?

ROA: I'm sorry?

CABRERA: The repatriation flights that we know have been established. And over the weekend, there were some 300-plus Haitians that were flown back to Haiti.

And the administration obviously trying to send a message that, if you come, you're going to be sent back, so don't come to begin with.

Has that had any impact? What are you hearing from some of the migrants? Are they getting the message that they will be turned around?

ROA: Absolutely. They are aware. They are hearing the word that the migrants have been deported, that they are transported to immigration facilities.

But many of them, under Title 42, are going to be deported to Haiti and some other countries from Latin America. That's why some of them are thinking to come back to the Mexican side and stay here.

The problem is there's nothing here. There's an empty park. No water. No restrooms. So they are in limbo. There's nowhere to go.

If they go back to the bridge, they will be deported. And if they come back here to Mexico, they don't have food or money and they are too far away from their countries.

It's really complex, the situation with them right now.

CABRERA: Michael Roa, in Mexico for us on the southern border, thank you.

Breaking news just in on Wall Street. The Dow plunging nearly 800 points.

Matt Egan is here.

What's going on, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Ana, this has been a very ugly day, the Dow down almost 800 points, more than 2 percent. And the S&P 500 is on track for its worst day since February.

Listen, this is all about China. Specifically, there's a real estate company called Evergrande, and it's teetering on the brink of default.

And that's raising all of these concerns about how much debt has built up in the system overall, and in China specifically. This is a very large company that's sitting on $300 billion of debt,.

And so there's some worry that perhaps this could spread to elsewhere in China or are even outside of China.

There's this worry that, you know, maybe this is a Lehman Brothers 2.0. Because last week, it was a 13-year anniversary since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

And we learned during down that episode how quickly one domino falling can send shock waves across really the whole entire financial system.

But we should caution people that, even though the markets are down right now, it doesn't really feel like panic. Markets have been pretty orderly so far.

And there's nowhere near as much fear as we saw back in March of 2020 when the pandemic first erupted.

And also, despite today's drops, the S&P 500 has still almost doubled its lows since March of 2020 so this is almost a drop in the bucket.

But, Ana, I think the most important thing is most people will expect China to step in, the government will step in and prevent this from getting out of hand simply because it's not in their interest for this to turn into a broader financial crisis.

[13:35:07]

CABRERA: OK. So right now, the Dow down 780 points.

Matt, thanks for explaining why for us.

Hold grudges and get even. Former President Trump sticking to a familiar M.O. Will his party stick by him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:10]

CABRERA: This month, we've been getting a stunning look at the chaotic final days of the Trump administration, thanks to an explosive new book "Peril."

And this morning, the authors, "Washington Post" reporters, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, spoke about it for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT COSTA, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST" & AUTHOR: President Trump's conduct alarmed everyone, nearly everyone in his inner circle of his administration. He could very well run for president in 2024. And this system, the

American system, tested all the way to the brink, could be tested again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: You could argue the first test never ended.

On Friday, nearly a year after the 2020 election, Trump again pushed the Georgia secretary of state to nullify President Biden's win there and called Biden an illegitimate president.

We're joined now by CNN political commentator, Scott Jennings, and CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, former President Trump sent this letter to Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state in Georgia, telling him to overturn the election results, while Trump is under criminal investigation essentially in Georgia for telling officials to overturn the election results.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, right. I mean, you'll recall he told Raffensperger to find 11,000-plus votes for him and that's what is under investigation.

It's pathological. It's -- it's hard to explain any other way. It certainly is embarrassing, particularly for those Republicans who have not come out and said, enough already, this is ridiculous.

This is a president, a former president, who cannot admit that he lost. That is what this is all about. He still cannot say that he lost the election.

And, you know, you talk about the Woodward book, and in the Woodward book, there's lots of stuff in there about Republicans, you know, like Lindsey Graham looking at the evidence and saying, this is ridiculous.

And here you have the former president still writing a letter to Raffensperger. There's just no way to explain it.

CABRERA: Well, I had to actually do a double take.

BORGER: Right.

CABRERA: On the date of this letter because this must be an old letter that is resurfacing

BORGER: Right.

CABRERA: -- right now.

But, no, the letter was September 17th, Scott. It still contains no evidence of what he claims.

So is he continuing to wage this campaign to discredit the election and spread the Big Lie and rather than face consequences? It seems he's just consolidating more power within the GOP. What does that say about the party and the country?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I think you're right that he is still the most powerful Republican.

I mean, I've believed all along, really since right up until the election, if he wants to run again, he'll be the Republican nominee.

He would not have a meaningful challenger who would have a chance to unseat him. And if he was the nominee, Republicans would likely loose.

That having been said, if you look at the polling right now with Joe Biden falling, I'm sure his advisers are putting polling in front of him.

And he can read, and he's saying, look at this, you know, there's no way I'll lose to this guy twice in a row. So even if he's not saying he lost externally.

So my suspicion is he's going to run again. And the party is going to have to grapple with going back to the American people and saying entrust us with this high office again.

Even though, the last time we had it with this very same person, we had a chaotic ending to the administration in which power was, frankly, abused.

And so I think our unwillingness to put forward a candidate in that scenario, who would say this was a mistake, we won't let it happen again, is going make it difficult to recapture the White House.

I frankly think there's several other Republicans who could defeat Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or anybody else. Trump, as it has been in the past, is probably the least likely to win in that scenario.

CABRERA: It's been said that before, the election in which he won back in 2016, right?

But, Gloria, Trump is testing his power in other ways right now as well. The former president is looking for someone to de-throne Mitch McConnell.

BORGER: Good luck.

CABRERA: McConnell has been hugely effective as a GOP leader. He's been in that position in the Senate for decades now.

What is this really about?

BORGER: Well, first of all, he doesn't like Mitch McConnell. It's vindictive and it's petty.

And he's not going to find Republicans eager to get up and challenge Mitch McConnell. As "The Wall Street Journal" pointed out, people believe he's been a very good leader.

Scott Jennings knows a lot about Mitch McConnell and has been close to him.

Look, I think he -- he says Mitch McConnell said on the floor of the Senate that I provoked the insurrection. Mitch McConnell didn't vote to decertify the election, right?

He don't like him. And he wants to make trouble for him.

And he's supporting candidates to run, that Mitch McConnell doesn't want, because he thinks they're going to lose and that would endanger gaining back a majority.

[13:45:09]

So the president is playing games here. And I think, given internal Senate politics, he's going to lose this one if he's real serious about it.

CABRERA: Scott, you worked with Mitch McConnell. What do you think he does with this?

JENNINGS: Well, he's not engaged with Trump since really December, and he won't talk about him publicly.

Because McConnell's only goal here is to retake Republican control of the Senate and to make sure that he is reflecting the will of his conference.

Fighting with Donald Trump publicly does not serve either of those goals. So you're never going to see McDonnel take the bait on this. That's number one.

Number two, I would remind the former president that virtually all good things that happened during his term, of a domestic matter, happened because Mitch McConnell prioritized them and got them through the Congress for Donald Trump, tax cuts, judges, you name it.

Number three, McConnell has been an effective politician all of these years not because he's emotional or visceral but because he listens, whether to his constituents in Kentucky or, in this case, the Republican members of his conference.

He does more listening than he does talking and then he tries to drive as much party unity as he can. Has the strategy worked? Yes.

Mitch McConnell has never lost an election in Kentucky and never lost a leadership election inside the Senate Republican conference.

They are not looking for somebody to be bombastic or to tell them what to do or order them around. They are looking for someone to listen and drive party unity.

That's what McConnell has been effective at doing. And along the way, block the Democrat's agenda, which, as you know, he's been very effective at.

So this is what makes McConnell effective. And though Trump may not like it, this is what his people in the conference want him to do. And that's why they give him high job approval for his job as leader.

BORGER: And don't forget, McConnell has a political action committee that's been very generous to a lot of Republicans in the Senate. Because his goal, as Scott points out, is to regain control of the Senate.

That's not Donald Trump's goal. Donald Trump's goal is vindication for himself and vengeance for others. That's it. McConnell wants to win for Republicans.

CABRERA: All right. We'll see where this fight goes.

Thank you, Gloria Borger and Scott Jennings. Good to see you both.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

CABRERA: Add making up with our allies to the list of foreign policy challenges that the White House is facing now. President Biden preparing to talk to France's Macron in the rift off a submarine deal that's intensifying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:27]

CABRERA: President Biden set to speak by phone shortly with French President Emmanuel Macron amid a growing rift between the two countries over a new deal involving submarines.

The French recalled their ambassador to the U.S. for the first time in modern history last week after Australia ditched a multi-billion- dollar defense contract with France to enter into a new deal with the U.S. and the U.K.

Now the French say they were not given a heads up about this major diplomatic move.

CNN national security correspondent, Kylie Atwood, joins us now.

Kylie, how is the Biden administration trying to smooth things over with this key ally?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, I think that, in part, this came as a bit of a surprise to the Biden administration, just how frustrated and angered French officials were when this announcement was made.

Because I'm told by senior administration officials that they believe the Australians were sort of handling this conversation with the French.

But the French are claiming publicly this was a total surprise is to them.

The foreign minister calling this new agreement between Australia and the U.K., quote, "a stab in the back." As you said, recalling their ambassador from the United States.

And now we're waiting for the call between President Biden and Macron, which, according to the Biden administration, is going to chart the path forward.

It is clear that the Biden administration wants to get past this challenge between these two traditional allies.

But a few things to note, Ana. Heading into the U.N. General Assembly this week where President Biden is expected to deliver a speech that focuses on collective action, rallying alongside allies to take on global challenges.

The fact that the United States is facing such intense tension with one of their traditional allies isn't a good look for the Biden administration.

So it is something that they will want to try to handle. But the French have indicated that they aren't done here. They recalled their ambassador for consultations with French officials.

It is clear they have more of a response and they're preparing what that response will look like.

CABRERA: Kylie Atwood, I appreciate that update.

And we'll keep everybody posted on what we learn from that call.

In the meantime, we're continued to follow the breaking news on Gabby Petito, the disappearance of this YouTube influencer, and the hunt for her fiance who has also disappeared, Bryan Laundrie. We'll be on top of that right here on CNN.

Thanks for being with me today. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

[13:55:00]

The news continues next with Alisyn and Victor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Welcome to NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: And I'm Victor Blackwell.

Kids as young as 5 years old could be just a few weeks away of getting a covid vaccine.

[13:59:58]

Pfizer announced results from a highly anticipated clinical trial today and the company said its vaccine is safe and triggered a robust antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.