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January 6 Panel Says, Trump Lit the Flame for Deadly Violence at Capitol; Inflation Rises at Fastest Pace Since 1981, Fueled by High Gas Prices; CDC to End COVID-19 Testing Requirement for Travelers Entering U.S. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: As the January 6th committee lays out its case against the former president, revealing new evidence, never- before-seen footage as well from the Capitol riot, many Republicans have been downplaying what happened that day, changing the subject, painting the committee as well as illegitimate, in their view. What cannot be ignored though is a very real threat that we saw to the democratic system that day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My kids didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate one, which they were asked to previously certify. U.S. demands the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring out Pence. Bring out Pence. Bring out Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: One of the revelations of the committee, as you hear those hang Mike Pence chants that the president said to his advisers, he might deserve it.

I want to bring in CNN Political Analyst S.E. Cupp and Republican Strategist Doug Heye for their reactions.

S.E., if I can begin with you, one thing that struck me as we watched that violent video was that the rioters believe they had license to commit violence, that they had justification and cover there, it seemed, from the former president. What's the impact? What is the danger today to our democratic system?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, yes. I think that really, last night, began to dismantle the notion that this was spontaneous or a couple of bad actors or it didn't go where it was meant to go, right? We heard from several folks at the rally saying, I know what's going to happen, and once I'm ready to lay down my life for this. This is why I'm here. And so that's important lest it happen again.

And there are folks from Senate Republicans who just want to move on and pretend this is all over and part of the past and others who don't really want to address just how nefarious this was, coordinated, staged, planned, the intention was to break democracy violently, if necessary, and Republicans don't want to deal with that.

[10:35:05]

They don't want to investigate it. They're calling it a sham. They're calling it political and partisan. That's something we should be looking at and figuring out how to prevent again, and I'm not sure it won't happen again.

SCIUTTO: Doug, one notable, not quite revelation, we just get more details about how Republicans' view of this changed very quickly afterwards. As the committee showed in video, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's was scared that day. You see video of them frantically rushing out after rioters breached the Capitol, but we also know that McCarthy begged the president to intervene, to stop this.

Three weeks later he goes to Mar-a-Lago and stands next to Trump showing support, I imagine, still for him and that's where the party has moved in the last year-and-a-half. Does that stop?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, and that's what we're seeing really play out in our primaries where Trump endorses a candidate, they're guaranteed about a third of the vote, sometimes less. Maybe that's enough for them, maybe it's not. But other candidates, we saw this in the Pennsylvania Senate race, were campaigning to be as Trumpy again. That doesn't look like it's changing.

And one of the depressing things for me, and I say this having worked on forming the Benghazi committee, you can talk about runaway inflation, you can talk about the high gas prices all day long and those are certainly massively important to voters and at the same time walk and chew gum and look back on this and try and find what answers and solutions are.

And I think what's striking last night was this wasn't just a political event, this was a legal event and, very clearly, they're setting the case for a lot indictments, that we'll see more evidence to come.

SCIUTTO: It's a good point there, and I wonder, S.E., if you agree particularly on this issue. The committee took care to show that the president was told in no uncertain terms by his then-attorney general, Bill Barr, that his election fraud claims were B.S., quoting Barr. Ivanka Trump believed Barr, she said, in her testimony. Even Jason Miller says that the data guy, the campaign data guys told the president he was going to lose.

What's the importance for that in terms of the president's intent here? Because if he knew it was false, that bolsters, does it not, the case that this was a deliberate attempt to overturn. CUPP: Absolutely, and I expect we'll see more evidence of that over the coming hearings. But that dismantled another notion that Trump truly believed the election was stolen and he wanted to find very real fraud. And so he was asking people because he believed it existed. He didn't. He was told by lots of people in concentric circles around him that there wasn't any fraud, it wasn't stolen, that's a dead end, he continued to push what he knew was a lie and for all of his lies about the, quote/unquote, stolen election.

The thing that is undeniable is that Trump would have stolen the election if he'd had enough bad actors around him willing to help. Luckily in the White House and DOJ and statehouses and election administrators said no to him, but he would have stolen the election had he been able.

SCIUTTO: Doug, the question then is what happens in the next election, either the midterms or in the general in 2024, if Trump or Trumpy Republicans find results they don't like? Can we see this again?

HEYE: Potentially. Look, this is going to be a big election year for Republicans. When I was at the Republican National Committee in 2010, our magic number for where we wanted Barack Obama to be was at 46. If he was at or below that, we thought we'd take back the House. Joe Biden is well below that and that's in part because of the runaway inflation, the rising gas prices. And that's what's affecting voter's lives right now.

SCIUTTO: I get that on the political environment. I'm talking about if it's a result they don't like, right, that Trump doesn't like or Trump people don't like, will they try this again?

HEYE: Yes. And, actually, I've been surprised that we haven't seen more Republican primaries play out in that way, where -- Pennsylvania being good example, where you could see allegations of fraud within the primary and the party is not ready for this.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Sorry, S.E., you were saying about state elections being important.

CUPP: Well, I just want to say, that's why the secretary of state elections -- I know we follow the shiny objects at the top of the ballot, but the secretary of state elections, the folks who are going to certify or refuse to certify elections, we should be paying more attention to them.

SCIUTTO: No question. And, by the way, in Georgia, perhaps hopeful sign there, right, the guy who stood up, Raffensperger, also Kemp, they got through their primaries handily.

S.E. Cupp and Doug Heye, thanks so much to both of you.

We'll be right back.

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[10:40:00]

SCIUTTO: The latest consumer price index numbers show inflation rising at the fastest pace in more than four decades in this country to 8.6 percent for the 12 months ending in May. Experts say the spike in the cost of gas in particular but also food and housing is driving inflation higher.

Joining me now, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse. Good to have you on this morning.

CECILIA ROUSE, CHAIR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: You've seen those numbers. I know you're well aware of them. I wonder, does the White House see any relief in these numbers for Americans in the near future? And if so, when?

ROUSE: So, look, the president very much understands and we very much understand that we have got uncomfortably high inflation.

[10:45:01]

What we saw in the data this month is that, month-on-month, prices increased overall. The headline CPI increased about 1 percent and about half of that was due to food and energy, which can be almost directly tied to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. And so --

SCIUTTO: It's not just that, you know. It's not -- prices are rising. I get the world oil markets are up, but as you know, prices are rising for everything, used cars, rent.

ROUSE: Absolutely. And so -- and the president understands that, and so he has, like, he has emphasized he's focused on this as part of his plan, I know this doesn't sound like a plan, but, first and foremost, he respects the independence of the Federal Reserve. Prior presidents have tried to interfere with the actions of the Federal Reserve board as they try to address inflation for political reasons. And this president has said he is not going to do that. Rather, he would like to follow fiscal policy that is complimentary to what the Federal Reserve is trying to do.

So, for example, this requires working with Congress, and so he does need Congress to work with him, increasing taxes on the very wealthiest Americans on our biggest corporations which would reduce the deficit would help address inflation while also -- while reducing the deficit. He also wants to work with Congress to address those costs that he recognizes families face in terms of prescription costs, child care and energy costs.

SCIUTTO: Okay.

ROUSE: He is looking for what he can do administratively, whether that's working with oil companies and refineries, asking them, we recognize you have got capacity challenges. What can we do to help you maintain your refining capacity and bring more oil online? So, he is doing what he can unilaterally but some of this will also require Congress.

SCIUTTO: And will take time, frankly.

Just last month, Jared Bernstein, one of your colleagues at the White House, told us the following, told CNN the following, every forecast we've seen has shown inflation growing slowly toward the end of this year. Inflation, in fact, ticked up again for another month. Why does the White House keep getting its forecast wrong on this?

ROUSE: So, my colleague was referring to outside forecasters. It's a challenge to forecast in this time, for example, if we take the month- on-month increase in headline inflation this morning. Forecasters are expecting 0.7 percent. It came in higher than that because -- my understanding is because it's very difficult to forecast food inflation.

So, forecasting is very difficult in this time, which is why I would like to remain humble and not pretend that I have a perfect forecast going forward, but I will say a couple of things. First, that if we look at core inflation year-on-year, we have seen moderation this month and the last couple of months. It's obviously too high but we've seen some moderation in terms of core inflation. Again, food and energy is largely due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Second, I will say that the United States economy comes into these challenges from a position of strength relative to our peers. We had record growth last year. The labor market remains very tight. Household balance sheets still remain stronger than they were before the pandemic. Debt still remains lower for households and before the pandemic.

So, we recognize these are challenges. The president is focused and wants to do what he can and is looking for actions he can take on his own or with Congress to address inflation. But --

SCIUTTO: To that point, if I can, just because we're limited in time, two specific measures that have been discussed, a windfall profit tax on big oil have been suggested by Democrats in the House, would the White House support that? And is the White House considering lifting China tariffs to help ease price pressure?

ROUSE: So, the president is -- again, all options are on the table. The announcement this week on solar panels included some relief in terms of tariffs regarding solar panels. He wants to do so in a way that is strategic and benefits the U.S. workers, U.S. businesses, the U.S. economy writ large, but that is certainly on the table.

And so we are open to ideas. Again, some of them require working with Congress. The president is focused on lowering costs for families, reducing the deficit, respecting the independence of the Fed because he recognizes those are strategies to address inflation.

SCIUTTO: Cecilia Rouse, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, thanks so much for joining on the program this morning.

ROUSE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[10:50:00]

SCIUTTO: New this morning, big news for travelers, the CDC is ending its COVID-19 testing requirement for travelers coming into the U.S. And the change takes place pretty much right away, this weekend.

CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz joins us now from Los Angeles traveling with the president. So, Arlette, I'm curious what prompted this decision that's happening pretty quickly?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. The CDC decided to end one of those last remaining travel requirements that has stemmed from the pandemic, saying that international travelers coming to the U.S. will no longer need to test before their arrival here.

This was first reported by our colleague, Kaitlan Collins, with an official saying that the CDC has determined that this requirement is no longer necessary based on the data and the science. They did note, however, that it will be reviewed again in 90 days as they could potentially reinstate it if they see a new variant or possibly other science and data to back up the need for it.

[10:55:08]

Now, this will go into effect starting Sunday, and there had been some lobbying from the travel industry urging the administration to eliminate this requirement. A short while ago, the U.S. Travel Association applauding it, saying that it is an important step in trying to aid the recovery of the airline industry overall. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Arlette Saenz, no more swabbing coming back into this country. Thanks so much for joining us.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciutto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan will start right after a quick break.

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