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Day Three Of Jury Deliberations In Kimberly Potter Manslaughter Trial; WH: Biden Will Continue "Build Back Better" Push In Congress; McConnell Says Manchin Is "Certainly Welcome" To Join GOP; Biden Celebrates New Economic Numbers As GDP Grows; TSA Screens Nearly Two Million Travelers On Tuesday Amid Case Surge. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 22, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

LEE MERRITT, ATTORNEY, MERRITT LAW FIRM: But the negligence standard is less difficult to reach. Would a reasonable person in her situation make this same mistake or was she not paying attention? Was she reckless? Was she negligent?

It's a low bar. I think there's more than enough evidence to convict under the second degree.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: We all remember, of course, the killing happened during the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin and the murder of George Floyd and the protests ensued for days in Brooklyn Center, right outside of Minneapolis.

And, look, you're running now for Texas attorney general. And you have said, quote, "There are so many practical solutions to police violence that could have been implemented last year."

What is top of mind for you as we see yet another officer on trial?

MERRITT: I'm thinking a lot about the murder in the apartment complex. This case is like the officer who was on trial, Amber Guyger.

She made a mistake, but it was based on a culture of policing that encouraged violence to sometimes mundane threats.

In Guyger's case, she said she saw him and she believed she was in her own apartment here. There was a young man who didn't want to be arrested, who was fleeing, but didn't actually pose a danger to anyone.

We want a police culture -- what we're fighting for is a police culture that responds to imminent threats with deadly force only when they're faced with deadly force. Not in situations where they're scared, nervous, reluctant.

And those taser weapons, they are not non-lethal weapons. They're considered less lethal.

In other words, about 88 people a year are killed by tasers by being over-tasered. That's not something we want law enforcement to rely on. As I run for attorney general, as the attorney general prosecutes this

police officer, what we're trying to push for is a culture that tells law enforcement officers that they should collectively be thinking of alternatives to the use of force when trying to deal with crime.

HARLOW: Lee Merritt, thank you for joining us today on this very much.

Again, we're awaiting a verdict in that trial.

MERRITT: Thank you.

HARLOW: We'll let you know when we have updates.

Meantime, in politics, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer says he wants a vote on a key agenda item of the president's when Congress returns in January.

Schumer laid out the timeline on a conference call with Senate Democrats. This happened last night. The first since the negotiations over the Build Back Better bill really erupted on Sunday.

The White House says President Biden will continue discussing the bill with members of Congress, including key Senator in all of this, Democratic Joe Manchin.

Let's go to Jessica Dean on Capitol Hill.

So, we hear it was a cordial call. You know, Manchin said what he said and the others said their piece. So now what?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, so they all got all their grievances and talked to one another since this came out on Sunday.

And we're told that Senate majority leader, as you said, Chuck Schumer, pushing forward on what we had known. He is going to bring this to the floor for a vote in January.

They know full well, Joe Manchin not going to vote for this. He told them, according to sources that told us, he said on that call last night, he's concerned about inflation.

We've also heard that from him in the hallways here, that some of his fellow Democrats pushed back on that inflation argument but that everybody was able to say what they thought about everything.

We know this will be brought to the floor for a vote. Joe Manchin not supporting it in its current form. That's not changing anytime soon.

The hope now is, if they do that vote, can they move forward and slim down this bill to appease Joe Manchin? He has made it very clear he's not going to be quick to back any smaller version of this bill.

So it remains to be seen exactly how they will move forward on this, Poppy. But a majority of Senate Democrats all -- 49 others, would like to move forward with this in one way, shape, or form in the new year. So it remains to be seen how that will work.

In the meantime, we are hearing from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He's doing several interviews here at the end of the year.

And he's talking about how, once again -- and he's been doing this for years -- he's encouraging Joe Manchin to join the Republicans and become a Republican. Acknowledging, Poppy, that that is likely not going to happen.

But again, we see them talking on the floor all the time. But Senator Manchin has told us in the halls multiple times he has no intention of switching to the Republican Party.

Senator McConnell would love to see that happen -- Poppy?

HARLOW: It was an interesting exchange for sure.

Jessica Dean, thank you very much.

Joining me now to discuss all of this, former Democratic Congress Joe Kennedy.

Good to have you.

So let's start there. Let me get this straight. So McConnell says, about Manchin, in this "New York Times" quote, "Obviously, we'd love to have him on our team. I think he'd be more comfortable."

Manchin says in response, on West Virginia radio, "I'd like to hope that there are still Democrats that feel like I do. I'm socially -- I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate."

[14:35:01]

What's your read?

JOE KENNEDY III, (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN FROM MASSACHUSETTS: I don't think Joe Manchin's going to leave the Democratic Party and become a Republican.

Look, Joe Manchin is Joe Manchin. And Joe Manchin has been clear about his position on aspects of this bill. I think, I'm still optimistic they're going to get there. I think they're going to go through that process.

I don't expect Senator Manchin to leave the Democratic Party. He has been where he has been politically now for a very long time. That part is consistent.

HARLOW: Right.

KENNEDY: The fact he's had a couple of conversations with Mitch McConnell, maybe he's trying to get Mitch to be a Democrat. HARLOW: It's so funny that it's, you know, like, a huge headline when

people from different parties talk on the floor. That's actually how a functioning democracy is supposed to work. But it's indicative of I think where we are now.

I will ask you, though, you say you think we're going to get there. Get where? Because Manchin did lay out this top-line number in a framework he was comfortable with a while ago. So get where?

KENNEDY: So, Poppy, just to be clear, I disagree with Senator Manchin. I think the package should be bigger and bolder and try to address a number of shortfalls that have lacked for a long period of time.

That being said, I'm not Joe Manchin. So Senator Manchin has put forward a series of concerns in his own framework, now, months ago and he stayed largely within that framework. He's moved a bit on some and evolved on other places.

What I think, even from much of the public reporting this past week, you have saw him around a number of $1.7 trillion, $1.8 trillion.

Supportive of a number of aspects on climate. Investments on issues around childcare and early childcare. Offered health care measures and supports.

And the other objections that he's had, issues on inflation and timing and trying to say, now for a while, to push this back past the end of the year and into 2022.

That he wants a tighter accounting so that programs that are put into this package are actually funded for 10 years, with the expectation they're going to get funded later.

My point is there's still a significant area of overlap between what the White House is pushing for, the bill that made it out of the House of Representatives, and what Senator Manchin has said that he would support.

Is it anything I would like? No. But there's still a lot of overlap here.

HARLOW: We did hear the president say this week voting rights is the single biggest domestic agenda issue for his administration.

Do you believe that Democrats can effectively do what they need to do? Which would be a whole lot of work because they're not going to get Sinema and Manchin on? Maybe a carve out, maybe some different maneuvering, changes to try to get voting rights through the Senate.

Can they do that and retry Build Back Better at the same time or do they need to table Build Back Better for now?

KENNEDY: Look, they have to do both. I think it's difficult to say which one of these bills is going to be a bigger priority.

Without voting rights, and without voting rights codified, you don't have the ability to deliver on additional areas of substance. The United States Senate has to do both.

Yes, they have an uphill battle to climb with a couple of Senators that have been reluctant to endorse changes to the filibuster to allow that to happen.

But the other piece here that I think is critically important for people to recognize, you cannot let the Senate off the hook. You can't let the White House off the hook. You have to move.

But much of the regulations are around the way in which elections returns happen at the state level.

So even if there's action at the state level, which is critical, but that does not solve the need for Democrats to engage in a state-by- state strategy to ensure there are not successful efforts to roll back the franchise.

We've seen that already. The impetus behind this push federally. Even with that federal floor, even with the enhance, they're going to have to take this effort to the states.

HARLOW: Yes.

KENNEDY: So I say this to say you have to play on multiple levers here. That's difficult. That's complex.

Our democracy requires it because of the consistent and strategic effort we're seeing from essentially a conservative effort in Trump supporters to put in place these restrictions under the guise of a lie.

HARLOW: Lest we forget the power the states have in the system, especially in the wake of Shelby vs Holder. There's a lot on the states right now on that.

Thank you, former Congressman Joe Kennedy. Happy holidays.

KENNEDY: You, too.

HARLOW: Against the odds of supply chain issues and the Delta variant, America's economy grew this summer at a faster pace than experts predicted. What the president says will help the economy grow next year. We'll have that next.

[14:40:06]

But first, here's a look at some other events we're keeping a very close eye on and watching today.

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[14:45:15]

HARLOW: This just in. President Biden announced he is extending the pause on federal student loan payments. They were set to restart on February 1st. That's been pushed back to May 1st, citing the ongoing COVID crisis.

The president also pointing to progress the administration has made getting the nation's economy back on track, keeping store shelves stocked through the holidays.

Speaking a short time ago, the president shared new figures showing GDP, or economic growth, was more than thought in the third quarter of the year.

Let's bring in our Alison Kosik and Phil Mattingly.

Good to have you both.

Phil, let me start with you.

He's giving his administration credit, saying, look, there have been huge improvements in the economy, but he says more can be done.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. It's a complex balancing act that I think you've seen in the president and his top officials over the course of the last several months that underscore the moment.

When you look at the recovery from one of the biggest shocks in the century, there's really no historical precedent for how good it has been, in terms of growth, in terms of job gains over the last 10 or 11 months. In terms of wages, to some degree, as well.

At the same time, we've seen price increases year over year at a nearly four-decade high. And the American people are feeling that.

So the president trying to address, look, part of the big reason for that supply chain meeting today, unlocking some of those pandemic- driven supply chain constraints.

But the president trying to make clear that what he's done over the past 11 months has set the U.S. economy up for this moment and to get better.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The economy I inherited nearly a year ago wasn't just in crisis, it wasn't working for working people. That's the reason I ran.

Over this year, we've acted, from the American Rescue Plan to the bipartisan infrastructure law, to change this trajectory, to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And the key priority for the president today was to underscore the fact that for all the concerns a few months ago, I think we all heard them, that Christmas gifts weren't going to be able to arrive on time because of the supply chain bottlenecks.

Well, 90 percent of inventories are full at this point in time. In a typical pre-pandemic year, it was at 91 percent delivery time for some delivery companies. They're actually faster than they were pre- pandemic.

So trying to check the box a little bit, but some of the efforts appear to be paying off, at least when it pertains to the supply chain -- Poppy?

HARLOW: Amen to some happy kids. We just all have a lot of wrapping to do tonight, Phil.

Alison, you've got $6 trillion in COVID stimulus. But it's at, most of it is already spent.

And now you've got this huge Omicron wave. And I just wonder how much of these strong economic numbers are actually reflective of what's going on in the economy, given COVID was getting better and you had this huge, you know, artificial boost from stimulus.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you ask all the right questions, Poppy. You look at GDP in normal times, gross domestic product would be the best measurement of the health of the economy.

But in this case, we're not in normal times. And with this virus, it just changes the economy from month to month. And especially, since this GDP is looking back from July through September, so much has changed since then.

If we walk down memory lane and think about what was going on during July through September, Delta was a prevalent variant that was circulating, especially at the end of the summer.

There was the expiration of all those cash payments to businesses and to people and to those forgivable loans. All of that stuff ended. The extended jobless benefits, those ended and the expiration of COVID stimulus as well.

That's why with the figure of 2.3 percent rate for the third quarter, it is a deceleration from what we saw because all that stimulus was gone.

I think the best way to figure out how the economy really is doing is to take a forward approach, not a backward approach. Even that's difficult.

And you alluded to that with the Omicron variant. We don't know how much this variant is going to impact consumer spending and economic growth.

Throw in the questionable fate of Build Back Better, which, taking it out of the economy is already pushing economists to cut their expectations for GDP.

There's a lot in question about the health of the economy moving forward.

HARLOW: Yes. For sure.

All right, guys, thank you. If I don't see you before, happy holidays.

KOSIK: You, too.

[14:49:38]

HARLOW: The TSA says the number of passengers traveling through the nation's airports slowed slightly. The travel rush far from over. We're live from Reagan National in preparation for a busy holiday weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, U.S. travelers are not letting Omicron slow them down. TSA screened nearly two million passengers across the country yesterday. Tomorrow will be one of the busiest of the traveling season.

Pete Muntean joins us. He's our aviation correspondent.

It seems like people are just saying we're going.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's right, Poppy. The Omicron variant really hasn't stopped people from getting out.

What's so interesting here is that the numbers just yesterday are so, so close to where they were back in 2019 before the pandemic. The TSA screened 1.98 million people.

That number, 99 percent than the same day back in 2019, only off by about 2,300 people. Can you believe it?

You know, the busiest days are ahead according to the TSA. You mentioned that tomorrow is going to be one of the busiest days.

[14:55:05]

Dr. Anthony Fauci says you can feel OK about traveling so long as you're vaccinated and boosted.

Travelers we have been talking to tell us they feel pretty confident. Here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX REYNOLDS, TRAVELER AT HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Yes. It's a little nerve racking, but when we flew out here, it was definitely safe. Everything was wiped down. You could tell it was clean.

So, you know, definitely a little nerve racking because you're always going to be nervous. But I feel confident that we're going to be OK. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: We are in the rush now, Poppy. The TSA says 20 million people in total will travel between tomorrow and January 3rd.

AAA reminds us that, you know, a lot of people will drive, 100 million people in total will hit the road 50 miles or more. That number only about 7 percent off from what we saw back in 2019 before the pandemic.

HARLOW: OK. They're going, they're masked and, hopefully, healthy.

Pete Muntean, thank you very much for the reporting, live for us from Reagan International.

At any moment, we're going to hear from the White House coronavirus response team. They'll give us a live update on the surge of COVID cases across the country. You'll hear it right here.

Stay with us.

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