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CNN Poll: Biden's Approval Rating At 49 Percent & Nearly Half Of Americans Think Biden Made Economy Worse; Biden Surveys Destruction Caused By Deadly Tornadoes In KY; Severe Weather Ahead For Central U.S. & Southern Plains; Biden Administration Releases Previously Classified JFK Assassination Documents. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 15, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:31:43]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Less than a year until the midterm elections, a new CNN poll shows how Americans feel about the president and the economy.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: President Biden's approval rating is 49 percent right now. And 51 percent disapprove.

Here to break down the numbers for us is CNN political director, David Chalian.

OK, David, tell us what you see behind that approval and disapproval rating.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, well, one of the things we look at is the intensity of how people feel.

We asked people, do you approve strongly, moderately, disapprove strongly? Take a look here, 16 percent say they approve strongly, but more than double that, 34 percent, say they disapprove strongly.

So the intensity is on the side of those who disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president. And that intensity can be a driving force in American politics. That's a bit of a warning sign.

And note, 33 percent of Democrats, only a third of his home team, approve strongly. So that passion issue is something they have to work on.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the economy and some of the biggest concerns there.

CHALIAN: Yes. Well, take a look. We asked folks, are these various things a major problem or a minor problem in the economy.

And 80 percent, major problem, rising food costs, 79 percent say the supply disruption is a major problem, 77 percent say housing costs.

And these are huge majorities that are agreeing that these problems are major in today's economy.

And if you look at how Biden is seen on the economy, take a look here, guys. We tested his approval rating on a bunch of issues.

Only coronavirus does he have majority support, 54 percent approval. Everything else he's under water.

And helping the middle class and the economy, the things he ran on, he's at 45 percent approval. Majorities disapprove.

CAMEROTA: David, how do the respondents to the poll see Biden's policies impacting the economy?

CHALIAN: I think these may be some of the most troubling numbers, Alisyn, for the White House.

With 45 percent of those in this poll say that Biden's policies have worsened economic conditions, 25 percent say no effect, and 30 percent say they've improved conditions.

And compare this to Barack Obama in 2009, the last time there was a Democratic president at the end of his first term. Now remember, unemployment was more than double than it is now, but we didn't see the inflation we're seeing now.

Only 28 percent said then that Obama's policies were worsening economic conditions. This is a real delta here, with 45 percent saying that for Biden. That is an area of concern.

BLACKWELL: How about on the president's leadership? How do Americans view that?

CHALIAN: Victor, we asked this broad question about how people view him. Do you trust Biden as a leader or do you have some doubts or reservations?

It's 2-1 here, 66 percent. Two-thirds of Americans have some doubts about his leadership. A third, 33 percent, trust Biden as a leader.

Again, I would note, in his home team, 36 percent of Democrats say they have some doubts.

And when you -- oh, there it is. And 36 percent of Democrats have doubts, 75 percent of Independents have doubts, 92 percent of Republicans.

Again, this is, this is the folks that are supposed to be with you almost blindly. They've got some work to do even in their home turf.

[14:35:01]

CAMEROTA: David, can you give us some his historical context for these numbers?

CHALIAN: Yes. Take a look here. If you stack him up against all of his modern-day predecessors, Biden's near the bottom. Only Donald Trump was lower in overall approval rating at this point,

at the end of his first year of his presidency. And then you have Biden.

So we know what happened in Trump's first midterms in 2018. The Republicans got walloped.

This is the concern Democrats have and why they'd like to see Biden boost his numbers in the weeks and months ahead before people head to the polls next fall.

BLACKWELL: Very telling.

David Chalian, thank you.

CHALIAN: Thanks, guys.

BLACKWELL: President Biden is in Kentucky this hour. He's touring the hardest-hit areas hit by those deadly tornados. We're going to take you there to Mayfield, Kentucky.

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[14:40:24]

CAMEROTA: President Biden is in Kentucky surveying the aftermath of the state's devastating tornados. His first stop was in Mayfield where he met with survivors and local officials.

BLACKWELL: Next hour, he'll tour the destruction in Dawson Springs and give a speech on what his administration plans to do to combat severe weather.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is in Mayfield with more on the president's visit.

So what has he seen so far?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor and Alisyn, the president was on the ground here in downtown Mayfield for about 20 or 30 minutes. Really just about a block from where we're standing in the business district.

And everyone sort of stopped what they were doing, lined up and welcomed him here.

He walked through the business district with the governor, with other officials, including the mayor of Mayfield, who was a long-time teacher at one point so a lot of people really love her.

He just talked to them and got a sense of exactly what they had been going through. Many people just taking a break from trying to clear all this debris to give him an idea of what these last few days have been like.

And really, once his motorcade left Mayfield, everyone got right back to work, cleaning up these devastated areas in this town. The governor, in a briefing before the president actually came to

Mayfield, said that there are 600 National Guards members across Kentucky in 18 counties helping many efforts, but including the clean- up effort.

He said something like they are just trying to clear this chaos, this death and depression out of these areas. And that's exactly what we're seeing these guys trying to recover and rebuild from here.

And certainly the president's visit helping with that.

BLACKWELL: So OSHA is investigating the Amazon warehouse collapse. We know there were deaths there. What more do we know about that?

GINGRAS: Yes, OSHA is investigating that. We know that Amazon says it will cooperate with that investigation. And they have six months to complete that investigation.

We also know there's a look into the candle factory here where we know at least eight people have died. Of course, we're learning no one else is expected to be found there alive.

We have been hearing conflicting reports about what happened inside the candle factory here.

A couple of people telling Brian Todd they weren't allowed to leave the night of the tornado or else they were being threatened of getting fired.

I've talked to a few people who work here at the candle factory here. And I want to get to someone who had a different account. He's someone who survived the collapse of that building.

Take a listen to what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM DOUGLAS, SURVIVED CANDLE FACTORY COLLAPSE: We don't have a point system or anything like that anymore. You could basically sign out so they know you're gone and leave at any time.

So me, personally, I never heard anything like that. But that's just me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: So the accounts that the state labor division are going to be looking into when this investigation picks up and they have a few months to complete that as well -- guys?

BLACKWELL: Brynn Gingras in Mayfield for us. Thank you, Brynn.

Forecasters are predicting more severe weather for parts of the central U.S. and southern plains.

CAMEROTA: CNN meteorologist, Tom Sater, is with us. Tom, what are you seeing?

TOM SADER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn and Victor, this is just incredible. This is not normal.

Let's start with what we're talking about. Remember before we had the outbreak in Kentucky, we got up to 80 degrees in Memphis. And 250-plus records will be broken for warmth. This is not mid-December weather.

To the west, however, a massive storm that moved into the west coast dropped heavy rainfall in southern California with mudslides. But also the heaviest amount of snow we've seen in the Sierras, like six to eight feet.

Now that storm system moving across the central Rockies is going to set the stage for some things that are unprecedent for this time of the year.

First, the warnings are in effect. The snow moved into Colorado with wind gusts of over 91 miles per hour. It looked like a sandstorm moving in. I-70 west of Denver is shut down.

Ahead of the storm system, however, the winds are kicking up. Non- thunderstorm winds. Which means the strong winds from aloft are coming down to the surface. Schools are closed from Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas just for the winds.

We're going to see a severe weather set up where you typically never, ever see this. We're talking in Iowa, Mississippi, and up toward Wisconsin. Tornado watch already in effect until 11:00 p.m. this evening.

As we break this down, however, notice the wind warnings. Power outages from the desert southwest to the Great Lakes. Those that lose power will be into the teens and 20s.

[14:45:00]

Unprecedented fire risk. Never before this time of year. Fires firing up northwest of Amarillo. Fire chiefs are on alert.

But a level four out of five. This has never occurred in any month from November, December, January, February, for this area, for parts of Iowa in toward the Twin Cities.

That includes Wisconsin. And believe it or not, there's still snow on the ground.

So again, another unbelievable event. The new normal.

We're going to be following this line of severe weather and the possibilities of nocturnal tornados up in areas of the upper Midwest this evening. Unbelievable.

CAMEROTA: It really is, Tom. That map you showed us is hard to imagine where there are extreme events all happening simultaneously. It's so unnerving.

BLACKWELL: How broad the threat is from so many different cycles there.

Tom Sater, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Tom.

OK, now to this. A slew of once-classified documents were just released this afternoon that may shed light, new light, on the JFK assassination. That's next.

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[14:50:27]

CAMEROTA: The Biden administration just released nearly 1,500 previously classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Historians and conspiracy theorists alike are now poring through these files searching for new clues about Kennedy's assassination.

BLACKWELL: They're also searching for answers about the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was murdered after being taken into custody.

But long-time JFK researchers are not expecting any major revelations.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's bring in CNN presidential historian, Tim Naftali.

Tim, great to see you.

I'm sure you haven't had time to pore through the 1,500 pages yet, since they were just released.

But do expect some sort of bomb shell? What are you looking for in there?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: All intelligence services are conspiratorial by nature. That's how intelligence - that's how it works. That's how you put agents elsewhere, that's how you spy.

The general public obviously is interested in any grand conspiracy that involves the killing of Kennedy.

We are learning a lot about smaller conspiracies, about elements of U.S. covert action and U.S. espionage in the 1960s that got caught up in the grand conspiracy thinking of the '70s and '80s and, therefore, were part of the demand for release of materials in the 1990s.

So for those of us who study intelligence services and study Kennedy's approach to covert action, this is an early Christmas present.

For those who want a new story, a new narrative regarding Lee Harvey Oswald, I believe they'll be disappointed. BLACKWELL: The truth is that even after all the documents are

released, there are some people who are looking for conspiracy and won't believe the documents once they have them.

Let me ask you. There was this JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, from '92, after the Oliver Stone movie, and everybody wanted all of the documents.

The act dictated that the documents would be released by 2017. What's your perspective of how the government, irrespective of political party and administration, has handled this release?

NAFTALI: I think this particular release was actually delayed by COVID.

But part of the challenge was, how do you release materials that our government doesn't tend to release? We're getting down to the bedrock of understanding how the CIA sent people abroad, the nature of their operations.

And we're talking about operations that had absolutely nothing to do with November 1963.

And it's a good thing that our government does make this material available. I would say, after 50 years, it should be available. But we had no tradition for releasing this kind of material.

Let me give you an example. I didn't know until today that the United States had what we would call these days a black site in Franco, Spain, a place where interrogations were done.

I don't believe torture was used. But we had a secret relationship with Francisco Spain, which the U.S. kept secret until this release today.

There were times when the CIA used USIA and the Voice of America to ascend what was called great propaganda to undermine the Cuban regime.

Our government did not want to admit that occasionally it used the Voice of America and USIA to send materials associated with political warfare.

CAMEROTA: OK.

NAFTALI: You can see that in the documents today. That kind of thing.

CAMEROTA: OK. But, Tim, is there anything juicy? Is there any juicy nugget --

BLACKWELL: Is there any juice, Tim? Where's the juice?

CAMEROTA: -- about the Kennedy assassination that we won't have known previously?

NAFTALI: No, but there's a lot of good -- so far -- but I've only looked at 20 percent of it. Let me tell you, so far, there's some really good juice about

assassination plots about other people.

I learned more things today, details about how the Mafia were used in an attempt to kill Castro. Now I sort of understand much better the technique that would have been involved and why it was a serious effort, which did not actually succeed, as we know.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Was it an exploding cigar?

BLACKWELL: Oh, my goodness.

NAFTALI: No, it was actually pills. We knew there were pills.

But how the pills were actually sent to Cuba, who it was who had the pills in Cuba, why it was the Mafia was involved, and what role a Mafia-run casino in Havana played in 1961? Those are new details that will make for an excellent series at some point.

[14:55:03]

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll stand by for the executive-producer credit you're getting for it.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Tim Naftali, thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: He deserves it.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Tim, thank you.

NAFTALI: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Dr. Anthony Fauci says there is no need for a variant-specific booster right now to fight Omicron. We'll tell you what this means as cases are increasing across the country.

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