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Trump Suggests Pardon for Jan. 6 Defendants if Elected; Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is Interviewed About Trump's Message of Pardon and President Biden's Supreme Court Nominee; Anti-Vaccine Right Bringing Human Sacrifice in America; Update on Rising Tensions on Russia and Ukraine; Russia Calls Off Military Drills Off the Coast of Ireland; Father of Reporter Killed on Live TV is Running for Congress; Wall Street Gearing up for the January Jobs Report. Howard Hesseman Dead at 81. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired January 30, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: For trying to pull off a coup to stay in power. You don't have to read between the lines. Just look at how he was reading the lines. This was not his incoherent buffet of words salad nonsense. He appeared to be reading from a teleprompter. The madness and the threats appear to be premeditated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere because our country and our elections are corrupt. They're corrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, he is saying the riot part out loud again. Sounds like much of what he was up to on January 6th as he instigated a violent insurrection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We fight. We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

We're going to the capitol. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But wait. There is more. Last night, Trump made it clear that people who heeded his messed up call to action on January 6th might actually get away with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. He is ready to abuse presidential pardon powers once again. This time to let his supporters know they'll receive a get out of jail free card for January 6th and perhaps for whatever may come next. That's not a campaign promise, though. That's more like a dictator's decree. Yes. America. The coup is still happening.

And joining me now is president pro tem of the United States Senate and member of the Judiciary Committee, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Senator Leahy, does this sound like a threat to you coming from the former president?

SEN. PATTRICK LEAHY (D-VT): It sounds definitely like a threat. I cannot believe I would ever hear this from somebody running for office or in office. I was a prosecutor for eight years. To think that somebody would run for a high office and say, you can conduct any kind of criminal conduct you want. Don't worry. If you're doing it to support me, I'll give you a pardon when I get there.

You know, as a prosecutor, I'd say, this has to be, somebody's making this up. It couldn't be real. And yet when you were there on January 6th as I was, I look out and I see them putting a noose up to hang the vice president if he didn't throw the election out. I see people storming through, I could smell the tear gas, could see the -- I could see the damaged windows.

Beautiful parts of the capitol had been damage and then seeing people say we're doing this because Donald Trump told us to. This is not a democracy. This is something that you'd see in a third world nation with a two-bit dictator.

ACOSTA: Yes. But a two-bit dictator who is trying to make comeback it sounds like and we did hear from a couple of Republican senators today reacting to Trump's remarks last night. It was not exactly full- throated condemnation. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it's inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce defiling the capitol was okay. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter what people who did what the -- on January 6th and those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the president should have made -- that President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Now, I know you don't want to necessarily criticize your Republican colleagues there in the Senate, but that was not exactly a profile encouraged moment. Senator, do you think that you're going to see anything more from your Republican colleagues when it comes to defending our democracy and condemning this thuggish dictator-like behavior that we're seeing from Trump at these rallies?

LEAHY: I think that you have to have people stand up in both parties. We saw that after Watergate with Richard Nixon when you'd have people ranging Barry Goldwater to Mike Mansfield, right to the left saying this is wrong.

I mean, as I said. I was a prosecutor for eight years. When somebody commits a crime or incites crime, that's wrong. I don't care if they're Republicans or Democrats. It is wrong and what the president, former president has done, is no question he incited a riot last year.

[17:05:06]

And there's no question they want to keep on encouraging it. Can you imagine he saying, look, don't worry, you go out and commit whatever crimes you want if it's helping me get elected. If I get elected, I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you. I'll -- I'll -- I'll give you a pardon. Now, that's something nobody, Republican or Democrat, should accept. I mean, that is third world baloney.

ACOSTA: Yes. Absolutely. Let's talk about President Biden's looming Supreme Court pick. I think a lot of our viewers and a lot of Americans are bracing for Mitch McConnell to try to figure out a way to block another Democratic president's nominee. What assurances can you give that that won't happen this time?

Do you think that we won't see that happen this time? Do you think McConnell, you know, knows that the jig is up and folks are sort of on to what he's been up to over these last several years with Supreme Court picks?

LEAHY: Of course, everybody saw the outrageous blocking of the constitutional process in blocking Merrick Garland, and unfortunately, Mitch McConnell was able to do it because he had a number of Republicans who had stated earlier that, oh, yes, Merrick Garland would be a good person. I could easily vote for him and then they got lockstep in blocking, even having a vote.

If you don't like somebody, then vote them up or vote them down. But what we saw there diminished the Supreme Court, certainly damaged the U.S. Senate, and you could see the hypocrisy when he ran through a Supreme Court nominee within days of the next election, which President Biden won.

So I know -- I think it would be very hard for him to block this. I think that the American public would say, you can't do this. And I would hope that the Supreme Court and those on it would not be in favor of something like this because it is diminishing the Supreme Court. It's losing the Supreme Court. It's losing its credibility. It's down the polls now in a way I never thought I'd see because they see it as being political, not non-partisan.

And I think any leader of any party, Republican or Democratic, to try to politicize the Supreme Court is wrong. I know some of the names that President Biden is looking at. They are all superb nominees. They are people that in normal time would go through very, very easily. Let's bring the nominee up, let's have a hearing. Justice Breyer gave us all plenty of advance notice.

ACOSTA: Right. Well, I was going to ask about that because we're hearing Republicans go on the attack over President Biden's announcement that he would name an African-American woman to the Supreme Court. Let's take a listen to what Republican Senator Roger Wicker said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination, and while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What's your sense of how the president has handled this?

LEAHY: I think he's handled it very correctly. I can tell you, I look at one of my granddaughters, who's African-American, straight A's in school and everything else. To have this baloney, and Roger Wicker is a friend of mine, but basically he's saying, well, if you're a woman and if you're a woman of color, you can only be qualified if you have some affirmative action.

Every single woman, white or black, in this country should reject such a foolish and racist statement. You pick the best person possible. Nobody -- I didn't remember any Republican coming up when Ronald Reagan said I'm going to place the first woman on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor. Backed by Barry Goldwater and backed by me and I voted for her because I felt she was the most qualified name that came up.

Nobody thought this was some kind of a special thing because you're woman or you're a woman of color. You know, that -- we -- comments like that make us look to the rest of the world as though we're a sub- par country.

ACOSTA: All right. Senator Patrick Leahy, you've given us a lot to think about. We appreciate your time this evening. Thanks so much and we'll get back to you soon. Thanks for your time.

[17:10:02]

LEAHY: I'm looking forward to the hearings. I'll be there. Take care.

ACOSTA: They'll be fascinating. Absolutely. Thank so much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, COVID misinformation is alive and well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Research suggests it's possible that vaccinator are more likely to get and transmit this virus than the unvaccinated are.

UNKNOWN: No. Not getting that vaccine. No, no, no. The vaccines are not good.

UNKNOWN: Are you vaccinated?

UNKNOWN: No. But I have a lot of hydroxychloroquine in (inaudible) at my house.

UNKNOWN: But it's the choice of the government. I don't trust CDC. I don't trust none of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: My next guest says that vaccine misinformation at this stage amounts to human sacrifice on the part of the American political right. He'll explain that next live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: In the realm of COVID misinformation, it seems there is no end. Experts will quash one conspiracy theory or flat out lie only for anti-vaxxers to come up with a new one.

[17:15:03]

It's a dangerous game of pandemic whack-a-mole. One of the newest conspiracies about the COVID vaccine, well, we'll let Republican Senator Ron Johnson try to explain it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): We've heard story after story. I mean, all of these athletes dropping dead on the field, but we're supposed to ignore that. Nothing happened here. Nothing to see. This is a travesty. This is a scandal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The real reason it's not a scandal is because it's not true. And then there are people who just flat out refuse to follow public health guidelines to protect others. Just two days after her defamation trial against "The New York Times" was postponed because she tested positive for COVID, there she is Sarah Palin was seen dining out in New York City on Wednesday.

This comes after Palin allegedly flouted New York's COVID vaccine rules by dining indoors at the same restaurant last weekend despite being unvaccinated. All this begs the question, what is the end goal of this COVID misinformation and refusal to follow public health protocols?

And a new piece in "The Atlantic," author Kurt Andersen argues the anti-vaccine right has brought human sacrifice to America, and with me now to talk about that is Kurt Andersen. He's also the author of "Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History."

Kurt, let's talk about this. You write that the right's ongoing propaganda campaign against an organized political resistance to vaccination among other public health protocol has been killing many Americans for no reasonable ethically justifiable social purpose. Let's talk about that. Expand on that.

KURT ANDERSEN, AUTHOR, EVIL GENIUSES: THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA: A RECENT HISTORY: Well, there were always going to be people who didn't want to get a vaccine. There's been an anti-vaccine movement before there was ever a COVID vaccine, of course, in the last 20 years and it wasn't all from the right.

Once the Republican Party decided under Donald Trump to politicize this so strictly, vaccine protocols, the public health protocols. And then once we had a vaccine that was so astoundingly effective and where refusing to take it, not taking it, led to deaths very clearly and has led to more deaths by far among people who watch Fox News, who are on the right.

It really -- I realized that suddenly it wasn't just a figure of speech or a piece of rhetoric that people have used from the beginning, left and right, maximum (ph) sacrifice. But then it was real. And so I spent time reading the anthropological historical research and it was amazing to me how the features of this phenomenon, which has existed of course for a thousands of years, really do fit what's going on here and now.

I mean, whether it's -- it happens in societies where sort of supernatural religion and governance are intertwined. That certainly is true of the American right these days. It often involves a kind of volunteers. It's not just people forced to be sacrificed in Aztec, Mexico or Incan, South America. There were volunteers and people were treated well and encouraged to go ahead and embrace death, on and on and on.

All of the features I realized made it a real thing, like it has been for hundreds of thousands of years. And I really -- at this point, I have no doubt the historians in the future will see it that way.

ACOSTA: Yes, Kurt, I remember during the, you know, beginning months of this pandemic going to a Trump rally and talking to a Trump supporter about why he didn't have a mask on. And he said, well, if I die, I die, you know. It's that kind of mentality. And you've also heard Republican politicians talk about, well, you know, there are some senior citizens, they've lived a long life. You know, sort of hinting at the fact that senior citizens have lived long enough and so on.

You know, before vaccines became widely available, there was essentially no difference in the average COVID death rate between red states and blue states, but in the last year CNN analysis found red states have a 52 percent higher COVID death rate than the blue states. In fact, the five states with the worst per captain death rates in that time all voted for Trump. Talk about that.

ANDERSEN: Well, and it's even more intense, and what I saw when I saw this analysis last fall, on a county level, the correlation between Trumpist voting, redness of a county, at the county level, 3,000 counties ranked from most to least Trumpee (ph), if you will, it just -- step by step, at every 10 percent up the line towards redness, the numbers, the chances of dying of COVID are greater.

So, the correlation was astonishing to me and that's what made me really begin looking at this correlation, you know. As you say, back at the beginning when people were quarantining or not, masking or not, whatever, there wasn't much difference between the rate at which Republicans and Democrats and Independents died. There just wasn't.

[17:19:56]

But now, in the last year, and just starting as soon as there were vaccines available, there were. And really, it strikes me that this is like, so much like the mass human sacrifices in societies in the past which took place in large complex empires not unlike ours. It wasn't primitive what we would then call primitive tribes. They were big, complex societies and that's what we're seeing here.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ANDERSEN: And by the way, it wasn't -- it was done by those societies and by the elites in those societies in order to reinforce their political power and often their non-egalitarian societies which, again, strikes me as very comparable to what's going on here and now.

ACOSTA: And Kurt, I mean, this is all very grim. But you did find some reason for hope as you were putting this piece together. Tell us about that.

ANDERSEN: Well, again, as I was looking after all the anthropological scholarship and some of the recent anthropological scholarship, which is based on these massive databases from dozens and scores and hundreds of societies over hundreds and thousands of years. Yes, there is a new emerging scholarship. It hasn't been formally published yet, but the researchers said -- have talked about it.

And they have found that over a certain size of society, in the many millions, that it's unsustainable historically. That societies, larger societies as they get larger find the injustice involved in you old people, you weak people, you people of low status who are being sacrificed.

ACOSTA: Right.

ANDERSEN: That just became untenable and it was changed. So perhaps, perhaps, this revival of mass human sacrifice in the United States is just a passing thing that will go away, but as I was saying, but (inaudible) the Republicans have for 40 years now, been doing a different kind of what is effectively mass human sacrifice in terms of gun deaths --

ACOSTA: Yes.

ANDERSEN: -- and eliminating all gun regulation, which is a different version of the same kind of, of kind of belief in that --

ACOSTA: Maximalist view of freedom over lives.

ANDERSEN: -- drive unnecessary -- precisely.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, Kurt Andersen, thank you so much for your time. You gave us a lot to think about. We appreciate it.

ANDERSEN: My pleasure. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. And coming up, fears that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent. So why is Ukraine telling tourists, keep calm and come visit?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

ACOSTA: CNN is learning that on Thursday all senators will get a classified briefing from senior administration officials on the situation with Russia and Ukraine with the threat of a Russian invasion looming. Ukraine may not be your first pick for a winter getaway but its tourism board launched a keep calm and visit Ukraine campaign. Yes, that is borrowing a page from Britain's famous World War II slogan, "Keep Calm and Carry On."

Ukraine insists there is no reason to panic and that the situation on its border where thousands of Russian troops have massed remains under control, but the tensions have the world on edge. French President Emmanuel Macron and Russia's Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Friday and French officials say Macron stressed the importance of Russia staying out of Ukraine and reaffirmed France's solidarity with Ukraine, and while Putin said the U.S. and NATO have not responded to his core demand.

Joining me now is Ambassador Philippe Etienne, the French ambassador to the United States. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. I want to get your reaction to this phone call. French government says that Macron and Putin agreed to continue efforts toward de-escalation and dialogue. Where does that stand? And what do you make of the Ukrainians saying, you know, maybe this is getting ratcheted up too much and it's not as critical as perhaps much of the world thinks right now?

PHILIPPE ETIENNE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Well, first, thank you very much for having me. Indeed, our president had a conversation with President Putin last Friday, but he had also conversation with President Zelensky from Ukraine. And as you said, there is this disposition, this willingness to continue the dialogue which is really important for us. While, of course, this dialogue must be (inaudible) de-escalation at reducing the tensions.

And in parallel, we must also prepare a (inaudible) reaction, if there would be an invasion. And this reaction must be very, very strong. But for us the dialogue is absolutely essential in all the formats, which have been used. One of the formats which was discussed by President Macron, both with President Putin and President Zelensky, is a so- called Normandy format where the three countries are together with Germany and where we try to find a solution to the conflict in Donbass in Eastern Ukraine, which is obviously a very crucial aspect of the whole issue of security around Ukraine and in Europe.

So we will continue this. There will be a new meeting in this format in (inaudible) after the one which took place in Paris last Wednesday, and which was successful in a way -- well it was successful because it took place, but also because the four countries for the first time since two years adopted a common statement. So, it showed that there is this, again, this position on all sides to continue this dialogue.

[17:30:00]

ACOSTA: And ambassador, last hour we spoke to longtime Putin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. He said he thinks Putin is just playing a game of poker here that he's actually bluffing. What is the French point of view on this? Do you think Putin is bluffing?

ETIENNE: Actually, I'm not Gary Kasparov and of course, for us as diplomats, we see this tension, this escalation of tensions, but we want to ensure the conditions which will avoid crisis. Whatever are the reasons or the rationale of the policy of the attitude of the Russian leader, we have to ensure this dialogue being very firm on principles which have been decided 30 years ago in the OSCE charter, in the Paris charter including sovereignty of countries which must be respected.

And we must aim at this standard because we have issues beyond Ukraine on the security of our continent, of Europe. And here, unity and coalition are really crucial between allies and in particular inside the E.U.-France (inaudible) right now. We have a special responsibility at NATO and, of course, with the United States.

ACOSTA: And what would constitute an invasion from the French point of view at this point? We've heard the American government, the White House, say that, you know, if just a small force were to pose some kind of threat across the border, a minor incursion, for example, that that would ratchet things up dramatically. What is the French view on that?

ETIENNE: Well, I know there was a discussion here in the United States a couple of days ago, but for us, again, the essential is that we are ready -- if there is an evasion, an aggression, we are ready to answer and we are ready to answer with massive consequences, but, again, the other channel, the other track of the dialogue is a really important right now to avoid, to have to answer your question, and to avoid, but knowing that we will react. We will react if there is an invasion and aggression. But to avoid, to

have a -- to give this answer, we can continue the dialogue and the news we have from what happened last Friday, from this phone calls, but also from contacts between Russia and all the partners. We are not the only one having these -- there was these other formats with the United States, with NATO, in the OSCE. We see we will continue this dialogue and we know what we aim at in this dialogue.

ACOSTA: All right, very good. Ambassador Philippe Etienne, good luck in all of your efforts. We appreciate it and thanks for your time this evening.

ETIEENNE: Thank you very much.

ACOSTA: All right. Merci.

And while the tension rises on Russia's border with Ukraine, the Russian navy was about to conduct military drills off the coast of Ireland until a group of fishermen, yes, fishermen, stepped in. They took action to stop the dangerous drills from happening in the waters where they make a living.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins me now from Cork, Ireland. Donie, great to see you from your homeland. And great to see some, you know, some Irish strength being applied here. You spoke to these fishermen who stood up to the Russians. Got them to back down. Sounds like David and goliath. How did they do it?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely a real David and Goliath tale here. An example of fish boats rather than gun boat diplomacy and fishermen here in this local community tonight celebrating. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: You can imagine of the two of us are and next thing a rocket goes (inaudible) flying over and you're going, Jesus, what was that.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Irish fishermen worried about rockets that would be fired as part of a Russian military exercise off the Irish coast this week.

UNKNOWN: We don't any one thing like where (inaudible). It's our backyard. It's where we make our living and our livelihood.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Concern here in Castletownbere, a fishing village on Ireland's the south coast, that Russian naval drills could pose a threat not only to the safety of fishermen but potentially to the environment and fish stocks.

UNKNOWN: We're worried about what damage does (inaudible) might do to the fish stocks and the marine life and this way isn't (inaudible) out there as well. It's a problem to interfere with them as well and frightened (inaudible). It's frightened me if (inaudible) this is going to frighten them (ph). O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Fisherman like Allen Carlton (ph) had

planned this week to go fishing off the Irish coast like he always does, despite warnings from the Russian embassy and Dublin that doing so could be dangerous.

[17:34:59]

ALLEN CARLTON, FISHERMAN: Just (inaudible). We keep lookout for other ships and things like that.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Keep a lookout for the Russian navy?

CARLTON: Well, hopefully we don't see them.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): At O'Donoghue's pub on the Castletownbere harbor, locals worried about the Russians military.

UNKNOWN: Fishermen in general are very anxious about the whole thing.

UNKNOWN: People are worried, yes. That is affecting our fishing, is affecting our safety of people.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Fishermen turned diplomats. Fishing representatives met with the Russian ambassador to Ireland last week to express their concerns about Russia firing rockets where they normally fish.

(On camera): When you went in to speak to the Russian ambassador, what did you say to him?

UNKNOWN: Well first of all, we gave him some prawns.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): If you had a message for Vladimir Putin, what would it be?

UNKNOWN: Maybe just (inaudible) as much.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): And Saturday night that's just what happened. The Russians saying after appeals from the Irish government and the fishermen themselves, Russia would move its ships further out to sea away from the Irish fishing boats. The news reaching this community by tweet.

(On camera): Well, how do you feel?

PATRICK MURPHY, CEO, IRISH SOUTH AND WEST FISH PRODUCER'S ORGANISATION: Shocked, really. Like, I didn't think that (inaudible) in the Irish South and West would have an impact on international diplomacy.

UNKNOWN: Cheers!

UNKNOWN: Cheers.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The news are relief for the whole community here. (On camera): You must have felt a great sense of relief, happiness?

UNKNOWN: Well, everybody did. Everybody did (inaudible) stocks, our livelihoods.

O'SULLIVAN: It opened a good catch this week?

UNKNOWN: Well, hopefully enough. Everyone's a good catch in the boats (ph).

O'SULLIVAN: And not catching any Russian ships?

UNKNOWN: Definitely not now or any ships.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And Jim, look, obviously the Irish government played a role here. Ireland's minister for foreign affairs and defense wrote to his counterpart in Moscow asking for the Russians to move a little farther off the Irish coast.

So, and just to recap, this kind of Russian flexing of muscle on the most western front of Europe here is still going to happen. It's going to happen -- it was due to happen about 150 miles off the coast here behind me. It's going to happen a little further out. But for the fishermen here, they are very, very happy because they can go about their business, go earn their living without having to worry about being ensnared in these exercises. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Donie O'Sullivan. Give them a round of Guinness on me. Send me the bill for that one, Donie. Thanks.

O'SULLIVAN: We sure will. We sure will.

ACOSTA: Thanks so much. All right. Much appreciated. Thanks for that report.

Seven years ago, a very powerful story for you, next. Seven years ago, his daughter was murdered on live television. Now, he is running for Congress. Andy Parker joins us live on the policy reforms he wants to bring to Washington.

Plus, join Sara Sidner as she rides along with the police to find out why driving while black in America can be deadly serious. That new special report, "Traffic Stop" begins tonight at 9:00.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

ACOSTA: The father of a Virginia news reporter who was shot and killed on live television is running for Congress. Andy Parker lost his daughter, Alison, nearly seven years ago when a former station employee shot her and a cameraman while she was reporting on the air. Ever since then, Parker has been an outspoken gun control advocate. He's also calling for social media reform because of the years he spent fighting to get videos of his daughter's murder taken off the internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY PARKER, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE IN VIRGINIA: What I didn't realize was that horrible day was only the beginning of a years' long fight. The video of my daughter's murder started showing up on Facebook and YouTube. Her last moments were watched by strangers literally millions of times. I kept asking that the videos be removed but the tech companies kept ignoring me and the videos kept being uploaded. Over and over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Such a huge problem. Now, the district Parker is running in is currently represented by Republican Bob Good, a fierce gun rights supporter who also voted to overturn the 2020 election results. Good also embraces Trump's big lie that the election was stolen. Of course, it wasn't.

Andy Parker joins me now. Andy, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. We should say that Bob Good has agreed to join us on this program next week. We'll see if that happens. But first though, why did you decide now is the time to run for Congress?

PARKER: Well, Jim, it's great to be with you. You know, as you just pointed out, I've been fighting Google and Facebook to get the videos of Alison's murder removed for years. And two years ago we filed a complaint with the FTC against Google. It didn't really get anywhere with that. Limited success. You know, a few videos came down but that was about it.

And so this past October, we filed a complaint with the FTC against Facebook, the week after Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistle-blower essentially confirmed everything that I've been saying, validated everything that I've been saying over the years that these platforms profit from violence, from graphic content, from Alison's murder.

[17:44:57]

And I couldn't let that stand and I thought, you know, this is -- this is as far as I can take. This as a private citizen. So, the next step would be to take it to Congress. And if I can get to Congress and I can champion this issue, and I'm not doing this just for me. I have to be probably the most visible face of it, but there are thousands of people that have suffered abuse and I've heard from people since I made my announcement.

So, I'm not doing it just for me. I'm doing it for everyone because these platforms that glorify violence, they subject our kids to bullying and pornography, spread lies and conspiracy theories that clearly we see it's tearing our country apart and they have zero --

ACOSTA: This is nonstop. Yes. It's just nonstop. And you've referred to your Republican rival Bob Good as the Marjorie Taylor Greene of Virginia. He gave us this statement in regards to you running. He says, "I've done what I said I would do when first running for Congress in 2020. I've been fighting on the front line fighting for our nation's founding principles against the Democrats radical leftist agenda."

What is your response to some of that in terms of what Congressman Good is saying? I mean, he is essentially flexing his Trump bona fides there in your part of Virginia. That is going to be a challenge for you.

PARKER: It is, but I think that there are enough, perhaps, former Republican or, you know, Republicans like Liz Cheney in the district that have perhaps buyer's remorse. And, in fact, I quote often when I'm talking to potential contributors that, you know, there was an article in the "Washington Post" not too long ago that did a profile on Good, and one lady they quoted said, "You know, I'm a Christian. I'm a conservative. I voted for Bob Good in 2020. I'm not doing it again."

So I think there are enough of those people out there that are tired of the clown act. Listen, this guy, every time he sets foot in the capitol building he desecrates it with his presence, and I want to restore decency and integrity to the office, and you know, do things for the district, like, you know, industrial site build outs and chip manufacturing and data centers.

I mean, he never talks about that. He's a culture warrior in the vein of Donald Trump. And as you have so aptly put it, he's a member of the freak show caucus. I think it's, that's a very appropriate description. I call it the treason caucus, too.

ACOSTA: Well, we're inviting Congressman Good if he wants to come on. He's welcome to come on this program. But let me ask you this, you know that Republicans in Virginia have been successful in recent months. The new governor there, Glenn Youngkin, is facing though some pretty swift backlash after he instated -- put in place this tip line or some are calling it a snitch line for parents to report divisive subjects that are taught in classrooms like critical race theory even though you don't see critical race theory thought in Virginia schools.

Some people or just anything that makes kids uncomfortable about our civil rights history, our history of slavery and so on, they're calling that critical race theory. What is your response to this controversy that's bubbled up about this tip line that's been put in there?

PARKER: Well, it's crazy. You know, it's -- they're creating an issue that doesn't exist. But that's what these guys do. I mean, they create this brouhaha about critical race theory. You know, Bob Good goes into schools and, you know, is in school board meetings encouraging people don't wear masks. Tells the kids, I mean, he actually was recorded telling kids to defy your principal. Don't wear a mask.

And this is the kind of rhetoric and behavior that encourages people like this woman that showed up at the Loudon County school board who says she's going to bring guns. I mean, it's dangerous, extreme rhetoric and it has nothing to do -- it's poisoning our country and he's not doing anything for the citizens of the fifth district of Virginia or Americans in general.

ACOSTA: All right. Andy Parker, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it. We'll keep an eye on that race. Thanks for your time.

PARKER: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: And now here is Christine Romans with your "Before the Bell" report. Hi, Christine.

ACOSTA: Hi, Jim. Jobs are plentiful and wages are rising, but how much damage did omicron inflict on the jobs market? We'll get the big monthly Labor Department report Friday with millions of people sidelined from work because of the omicron variant. Economists now predict a gain of just 238,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 3.9 percent. Now, despite an omicron slowdown, the head of the Federal Reserve says the job market is healthy.

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JEROME POWELL, CHIEF, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: The labor market is very, very strong right now. And I think that that strength will continue.

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There's really a shortage of workers. We see it particularly among production and nonsupervisory workers and people in the lowest (inaudible). You see very large wage increases.

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ROMANS: A strong jobs market gives the Fed more breathing room to raise interest rates to fight rising prices. It's expected to start raising interest rates in March to try to cool down inflation. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

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ACOSTA: Longtime television actor, Howard Hesseman, best known as radio DJ Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati has passed away. Hesseman's manager says he died Saturday afternoon after complications from colon surgery. He earned two Emmy nominations for his role on WKRP. He also starred in "Head of Class" and appeared on shows like "One Day at a Time" and "That '70s Show." He also hosted "Saturday Night Live" several times. Howard Hesseman, great actor and much beloved by fans of the sitcom "WKRP." He was 81 years old.

And that's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 2:00 in the afternoon. Pamela Brown takes over the "CNN Newsroom" live after a quick break. Have a good night. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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