Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

GOP's Boebert Makes Anti-Muslim Comments About Colleague Omar; Rep. Taylor Greene Lays Out Demands for Republican House Speaker if GOP Retakes Majority in 2022; Ukrainian President Warns There is a Coup Planned Against Him. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 26, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: "Fact. This buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up. Sad she thinks gets her clout."

You know, look, whether this story is made up or not the fact that Lauren Boebert is briefly retelling it for laughs that she thinks it earns her points with the base I think says a lot about where the Republican Party is right now.

You have this whole class of MAGA Republicans who came to Congress pedaling this brand of outrage politics. They fundraised off of these controversies, and they suffered little to no consequences from their own party.

I mean, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy last week stood by Paul Gosar who tweeted a video depicted violence against Democrats, and in fact Kevin McCarthy said he would reinstate Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene to their committees if Republicans win back the House.

And just one more point about all this, Jess. I mean, Ihlan Omar already faces a number of death threats, and you see her. She walks around the Capitol with a security detail, so likening her to a suicide bomber is only going to inspire more death threats, and it only adds to the harmful rhetoric we've seen on Capitol Hill, which is really contributing to the toxic work environment. So I would not be surprised if we do see some Democrats try to make a push to censure Boebert or try to kick her off her committees as well.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is just unbelievable to watch that video. I also want to ask you about Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is now laying out her demands for any Republican who wants her vote for House Speaker if the Republicans take the majority back in 2022. What is she asking for?

ZANONA: Yes, are already only a year away from a potential race for GOP Speaker, and we're already seeing some of these Trump allies flex their muscles in Congress. Just take a listen to what Marjorie Taylor Greene had to say on an episode of Matt Gaetz's podcast yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): We know that Kevin McCarthy has a problem in our conference. He doesn't have the full support to be Speaker. He doesn't have the votes that are there because there's many of us that are very unhappy about the failure to hold Republicans accountable while conservatives like me, Paul Gosar, and many others just constantly take the abuse by the Democrats.

I've demanded it. I want Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney kicked out of the GOP conference.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Do you respect the Republican leadership right now?

GREEN: No, no. I don't respect them at all. I can't respect leadership that doesn't hold people accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: So specifically Greene wants Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney kicked out of the House Republican Conference, and she also wants to see the 13 House Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill to lose their committee assignments. These are demands that so far Kevin McCarthy has resisted, and that's because he also needs to win the majority, and that includes protecting some of his moderates who did vote for the infrastructure bill.

So all of this really, Jess, is an early preview of the challenges and the potential math problem facing Kevin McCarthy in his quest for the Speaker's gavel.

DEAN: Yes, he's already doing the splits in a lot of ways. Melanie Zanona -

ZANONA: Oh yes.

DEAN: -- thanks so much for your reporting. And joining me now to discuss is former Republican Congressman of Illinois, Joe Walsh. Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for making time for us today.

I just want to start with Republican leadership. We just heard Melanie talking about Kevin McCarthy. So far he has pretty much just shrugged his shoulders at this behavior from Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was stripped from her committees. He was censured. Because there was no action from Republican leadership Democrats really went forward and did this.

And I actually talked to Congresswoman Ihlan Omar right before that censure vote, and I - and I asked her about her feelings about all this. She told me I think the presence of many of my colleagues on the Republican side has made us feel less safe. Do you believe that McCarthy has paved the way for more incidents like this by just turning the other way and not enacting any sort of consequence for these members?

JOE WALSH (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yes. Hey, Jessica. Good to be with you. Yes. Kevin McCarthy has paved the way, but you know what, Jessica? The whole Republican Party has. The whole Republican establishment and the Republican leadership has paved the way for this ignorance and this bigotry. And look, the incitement to violence.

I served with Kevin McCarthy. He's a tool. He wants to be Speaker of the House. He'd throw his mom under the bus to become Speaker, so he's got to appease the Paul Gosars and the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world to become Speaker, but Jessica, here's Kevin McCarthy's problem.

There are going to be more Marjorie Taylor Greenes elected in 2022. There are going to be more Republican crazies elected next year, and that's going to be a real problem for McCarthy.

DEAN: Right. And he's really going to have to balance that. I mean, again, there are these, you know, Freedom Caucus members, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, are pushing for him to punish the Republicans who voted for a bipartisan infrastructure bill that, by the way, got the support of Mitch McConnell in the Senate, and that's getting punished.

[09:35:00]

But saying something like what Lauren Boebert just said, what we heard, or Paul Gosar tweeting out that video depicting violence against fellow members gets no response at all. It is, as I just said, it's quite the splits he's having to do right here. How do you see this playing out, and does one side finally get the upper hand in all of this?

WALSH: I think - I think, Jessica, there's going to be an ugly fight next year after the Republicans take control of the House because, again, the scary thing for all of America is, right, imagine Marjorie Taylor Greene. Imagine 10 more Marjorie Taylor Greenes in the House, so there will be a real fight within the Republican Party Caucus. I still think Kevin McCarthy is the odds on leader.

But let's not forget, Jessica, what the danger is here. Lauren Boebert is lying. Lauren Boebert, what she said about Ihlan Omar, she's a bigot. Boebert is a bigot, but most importantly Lauren Boebert incited violence against another fellow member of Congress. She called a fellow member of Congress a suicide bomber.

The scary thing, though, Jessica, is Lauren Boebert is exactly where the Republican Party base is. You and I consider what she said to be outrageous. The base doesn't.

DEAN: Yes, it is outrageous, and to just sit there and listen to it you hear her getting laughs from the crowd there. It's clearly done for laughs, and she's probably going to fundraise off of it and make a fair amount of money for her reelection campaign. It is - it boggles the mind, but to your point that's where her base - that's where the Republican Party base is right now.

WALSH: That's the danger. Look, Lauren Boebert is who she is. Jessica, the danger for all of us is the Republican Party base does not consider outrageous and insulting what she said. We're talking about the base of one of our two major political parties, Jessica, has become completely radicalized. This is a danger to all of us.

DEAN: Yes, and I know we sound like broken record, but it wasn't always extreme like this likely when you were in Congress even then.

WALSH: No.

DEAN: All right, well Joe Walsh, thanks so much for your time. We sure do appreciate it.

And we are following breaking news on Wall Street. Right now the Dow is down more than a number of points. Let's look at it right here. Down 723 points right now as markets are rattled over fears of that new COVID-19 variant.

CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans is following this. We're looking at the numbers right now changing on our screen, Christine. What are you seeing?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a 2 percent move is a big - is a big move for these markets, and it just shows you the uncertainty of this new variant is really causing investors to rush to safer havens like the bond market and some different currencies.

I can tell you the backdrop here is the S&P 500 is up 25 percent this year, and the assumption, the narrative has been the strong U.S. economy is going to finish out this year. So you add in this new variant, this new variant from Southern Africa, and you have - you have concerns about whether that narrative can hold.

The very unusual constellation of mutations, that's what this particular variant has, and that's getting a lot of interest from investors and economists and scientists as they try to figure out what this is going to mean going forward. It could very well be that markets are getting ahead of themselves. There are so many questions still that need to be answered. There's so much testing that still needs to be done, so we're in the very early moments of this, but it just reminds you here that this is a COVID-driven economy. We still live in the midst of the pandemic, and this is a big reminder that we are not out of the woods here yet.

DEAN: Yes, no question about that. And as you say, the markets do not like uncertainty, Christine.

ROMANS: That's right.

DEAN: And it's uncertain right now. All right, thanks so much to you. Still ahead, the President of Ukraine warns that Russia is plotting a coup against him. The Kremlin already responding to those claims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:43]

DEAN: This morning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is warning that a group of Ukrainians and Russians have been plotting a coup against him for next week. CNN's National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood joins me now from the State Department. Kylie, Zelensky says those who are planning this coup are trying to garner the support of the country's richest man. What else do we know?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a pretty remarkable press conference from the Ukrainian President Zelensky this morning. He went on for some time and said, as you said, Jessica, that Ukrainians and Russians, a group of them, are trying to stage a coup in Ukraine, and he warned that the country's richest man is being pulled into this.

Now this is according to conversations - audio conversations that the Ukrainian Security Services have gained access to, and he warned that if that Russian oligarch gets pulled into this - and we should note this is an oligarch who has a lot of business connections in the country to mining to media and the like - he warned that it would be a mistake for him to be pulled into, quote, "a war against Ukraine."

Now the backdrop here, Jessica, is that Zelensky has been going after oligarchs in the country for quite some time now. Some view that as positively. Some view it as concerning because they fear that he's doing it to try and go after those who oppose him, to silence opposition to him in the country.

[09:45:00]

And then the other piece of this puzzle, of course, is what we had been watching over the last few weeks, this Russian military build up along the border of Ukraine, near Ukraine, and the United States has been watching this extremely closely.

We know that Bill Burns, the Director of the CIA, discussed this matter when he visited Russia few weeks ago. And this, of course, is something that will be top priority for NATO when there's a NATO meeting next week. Among the folks who are going to be attended will be top United States officials.

And one of the things that the United States has been saying is that they don't know exactly what President Putin is trying to do with this military build up along the border with Ukraine, but they have been warning they he shouldn't take anything too far, right, to take it into an invasion into Ukraine.

So they have been sharing intelligence about what they're seeing with allies and partners, and they will continue to do so. We'll watch for more. Jessica -

DEAN: Yes, more to come on this. All right, Kylie Atwood, thanks so much for your reporting. And coming up, coordinated smash-and-grab crimes as still climbing as the holiday shopping season heats up. What stores are doing to protect their merchandise and their customers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50.41] DEAN: Today is Black Friday, the biggest shopping event of the year, and as stores open doors to eager consumers, thieves are also eyeing merchandise. Brazen smash-and-grab robberies continue to climb, especially in California. Looters ransacked a Nordstrom, and Apple store Wednesday making off with $20,000 in products.

CNN's Camila Bernal joining me now live from San Francisco. Camilla, how are stores preparing in light of all these recent thefts?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jessica. Good morning. Well for starters a lot of these luxury stores are boarded up at the moment. I know it may not seem like it, but here behind me this is the Louis Vuitton store, and this is just one of the many stores that just this week essentially had thousands of dollars in products stolen.

And so, it is so concerning for the store owners and for the customers and, of course, for the employees that are working at the time of these incidents. So we do know that at the moment there are additional police officers all over this Union Square area. We're seeing them in pairs outside of the luxury stores, and they even said they would be in the parking lots to help people feel a little bit safer.

They've also closed off some of the streets surrounding this area they say to block some of the escape routes in case this does happen again. So not only are we going to see a lot of shoppers today but we're also going to see a lot of police officers working here on the streets but also working to watch and go over the hours and hours of surveillance video trying to identify the people responsible for the break ins earlier this week.

And so, you're hearing a lot of frustration and really a lot of people asking for accountability. Here's what the President and CEO of the California Retailers Association had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MICHELIN, PRESIDENT & CEO, CALIFORNIA RETAILERS ASSOCIATION: It's like nothing we've seen before, and I think in California we have to have a lot of uncomfortable conversations about some of the laws that have been passed, some of the consequences for this type of behavior and how do we go forward because we can no longer let this happen.

This is not California. This is not what we're about, and we need to make sure that we do everything we can to give law enforcement, asset protection, retailers, and particularly our small businesses the tools they need to protect their employees and their customers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And look, this has been an ongoing issue here in the Bay Area. Just this week we saw it happening in Santa Rosa and in Walnut Creek, but it's also expanding beyond the Bay Area. We saw it happening in Los Angeles and even in Chicago, so a lot of work to be done on this issue. This as we continue to watch these incidents happening over and over again. Jessica -

DEAN: Yes, hopefully they can get a handle on that. Camila Bernal for us in San Francisco. Thanks so much. Leaders in Philadelphia are pleading for an end to the violence as the city just witnessed its 500th homicide this year, a tragic milestone that ties a record set in 1990 according to police records. Mayor Jim Kenney saying he's, quote, "heartbroken and outraged by the deaths."

CNN's Brynn Gingras is joining me now, and Brynn, what is the city doing to combat these killings?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, they're speaking out about it. They're trying to do a number of things, though. Listen to this statistic, Jessica. Philadelphia averaging one homicide every 16 hours and, of course, we know the year isn't over yet. A city council leader recently saying in an emotional plea, please stop killing each other.

The city hit that grim statistic of 500 homicides on Wednesday when a woman was gunned down on the street in what police believe was a domestic violence incident, and Philadelphia, as you said, hasn't seen this high number of killings since 1990 according to police records.

And now the police chief actually says homicides had been trending down this year, but it's also, again, not just the killings. Gun violence in general is a major issue in Philadelphia. We're seeing in other cities just like New York it's a critical problem impacting many places across the country. A result of many things, including the pandemic, the economy, and the aftermath of all those protests that we saw over racial injustice and police brutality.

And Philadelphia's mayor says the city is one track to try to get some of those guns off the street, more than 6,000 guns, and they're also investing more money into crime reduction and prevention, but I want you to hear more from the Mayor Jim Kenney.

[09:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JIM KENNEY, (D-PHILADELPHIA, PA): At 299 261, nobody ever asked me a question about homicides. And I've been a mayor for six years. I don't remember getting all this attention to less than 300, so I mean, one is too many. One homicide's too many.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yes, and all those city leaders that you're seeing there, they're pleading with the state legislature to have more stricter guns laws, essentially saying that they're just allowing too many gun purchases, straw purchases of these illegal guns that people can just buy many of them, Jessica, and then resell them on the streets. That's a major issue not just, again, in Philadelphia but in many cities. And they're really just hoping hearing the number 500 it's going to resonate with people to just stop with the homicides, stop with the violence. Jessica -

DEAN: One can only hope. Brynn Gingras for us.

GINGRAS: Yes.

DEAN: Thanks so much. A new and alarming coronavirus variant has been detected in South Africa. Scientists are concerned about this variant because it spreads rapidly and is showing an ability to evade in unity. We've got live team coverage for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]