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January 6 Committee Lays Out Case; President Biden Delivers Economic Address in Los Angeles. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a time we took a different approach also to trucking.

Remember, last December, we brought together industry and labor to tackle problems facing truck drivers. It took the double -- we had to double the number of commercial driver licenses being issued by the states in order to speed things up. We did it. We sped the creation of registration of apprenticeships, allowing aspiring drivers to earn while they were learning.

The result, we had record-setting employment in trucking earlier this year. And truckers' wages went up, even after accounting for inflation. We're going to keep at it with a new super chain envoy, General Steve Lyons. General Lyons is a four-star general. He handled the transportation a little bit of thing. He had transportation command, only tens of millions of -- billions of tons things to move, from little things like tanks and aircraft and all the rest.

But all kidding aside, he's come off the sidelines. He's retired. He's helped us identify and get ahead of the challenges that raise -- that arise at our ports, our railroads, and on the road.

This is about reducing costs for families. You know, I have to admit to you, a lot of us elected officials have been in office for a while. Every once in a while, something you learn makes you viscerally angry. Like, if you had the person in front of, you would want to pop them. No, I really mean it.

There are nine, nine major ocean line companies that ship from Asia to the United States, nine. They form three consortiums. These companies have raised their prices by as much as 1000 percent. So everything coming from Asia, they get 90 some percent of it, the stuff coming from Asia. They have raised it by 1000 percent.

That's why I called on Congress to crack down on -- and they're foreign-owned, foreign-owned shipping companies, that raised the prices, while raking in just last year $190 billion in profit, a sevenfold increase in one year, a sevenfold increase, $190 billion.

The Senate passed legislation and I'm hopeful the House is going to act soon to crack down on these companies, as I have asked, and lower the costs. And I'm grateful to two Californians, Speaker Pelosi and John Garamendi, for leading this effort. Thanks, John. I really mean it.

It's a big deal. People at home trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck are wondering, what in God's name do nine -- understand me -- nine shipping companies have to do with it? Well, almost everything you're doing, everything from what you're eating to what you're having to drive to what you're -- what you need in your home, it's related to the supply chains and what's coming from abroad.

I'm doing everything in my power to blunt Putin's price hike and bring down the cost of gas and food. I led the world to coordinate the largest release of global oil reserves in history, 240 million barrels to boost supply to keep prices from rising even more.

Thanks to America's leadership in diplomacy, we have helped Europe reduce its reliance on Russian oil by tripling our natural gas systems to Europe compared to last past year. And I'm working closely with our European partners to get 20 million tons of grain locked in Ukraine, already in their silos now.

Ukraine and Russia are the two major suppliers of grain and corn. They have 20 million barrels -- I mean, 20 million in their -- in their silos right now. So we're trying to help them to get that. And the Russians are blocking the export. They're not allowed out through the Black Sea. And we're trying to figure out how to get it out of the country, to get it around the world.

It will bring down prices. But there's more. There's more than one way to solve this problem. We're continuing working to bring down food prices and gas prices and to save families money by dealing with other items. My dad used to say, it's all about the standard of living how much you have left in the paycheck at the end of the month. How much is left to do the basic things?

So if you add up all the things that people need just to do their -- to do everything from take care of their kids to turn the heat on or the air conditioning on and everything in between, there's a lot of ways we can reduce their cost, their cost of living, other than if we -- while we're trying to get at the grain and gas.

We laid out a plan, for example, lower prescription drug costs. That would fundamentally effect the well-being of every family. Those of you who know somebody who has type 2 diabetes and has an insulin requirement monthly, you know, it costs an average of $647 a month. It can cost as high as $1,000 in some places.

[14:05:04]

You know how much it costs to make that one little vile of insulin? Ten dollars. T-E-N. Ten dollars.

No new research has been done since that was invented, and the charging is outrageous. So I think we should be able to have the Medicare do what they do and they deal with the VA. the VA says, we're only going to pay you so much for this. If you don't want to -- and because the Medicare negotiates the price for them. Well, if Medicare's able to negotiate the price in insulin, guess

what? It comes down a whole hell of a lot. Outrageous numbers. So we can put a cap on insulin of $35 a month, and they will still make a significant profit, 10 bucks to manufacture, 35 bucks.

For example, we can begin by lowering the cost of high-speed Internet, because what you all did dealing with the infrastructure bill. Working with the service providers, we cut the price and raised the speed, potentially lowering high-speed Internet bills on average for an average family $30 a month, OK?

Well, you're paying an extra more than $30 a month your gas, but that still increases the money out of pocket -- decrease the amount you have to put out. The point is, we're doing everything in our power to lower cost to families.

But congressional Republicans led by Senator Rick Scott have a different approach. And if you didn't write it down, you would think I was making it up. And I mean it sincerely. Rick Scott tried to change his words yesterday, by the way, after he introduced this legislation. He's the campaign -- he's the guy that heads the reelection of the senators on the Republican side.

He realized that raising taxes on working families is a little unpopular. He said everybody, no matter what their station, if they don't -- if they're on welfare, should have -- pay a tax. Everybody should pay a tax.

Well, but here's the truth. One concrete plan that he laid out was going to raise taxes on working families an average of $1,500 a month, while we have 54 corporations out there didn't pay any tax the last two years and made $40 billion. But they don't want to tax them at all. They don't want to tax -- billionaires are literally paying a lower tax rate than longshoremen are paying, literally, on a percentage basis.

So he hasn't walked back from his plans on health care. He says, what we have we have to do, now that we have finally got the Affordable Care Act functioning and prices down an average of 400 bucks for people, he wants to eliminate it. Again, we're back at one, eliminate it again.

So -- and, by the way, the one that's the best thing that the Republicans are pushing now in reelection is that they think that Medicare -- I'm not making this up. Go online and look. Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, Medicaid go on the chopping block every five years.

What that means is, at the end of five years, they go out of existence, unless they're affirmatively voted back into existence, every five years, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid. And they forget people paid for their Social Security. They paid for it.

And you know what's going to happen? People say, well, they will never eliminate it all. But they will -- what they will do, they will be able to pick it apart. They will be able to cut it back. That's the whole objective.

And, folks, it's not right. It's simply not right. And I disagree. And that's what -- look, this is not your father's Republican Party. This is a different deal. It really is. I have worked with a lot of honorable Republicans, very conservative Republicans over the years when I was a senator.

But this is the MAGA gang. This is the MAGA crowd. I really mean it. They have a fundamentally different view of the role of government and who should pay what. And I'm going to work with anyone, Democrat, Republican, independent, to deliver real solutions for families.

Look, because of the strong foundation we built, we're better positioned, despite any country in the world, to overcome the global inflation we're seeing and to take the next step towards forming a historic recovery and a new moment.

And I count recovery as going from where we are today in terms of the economy to stability, to make it stable. It is strong as can be, but for inflation, but for gas and food.

And, look, we have to keep -- we have to keep coming together to find common ground to solve problems, like we have done in ports and in trucking. We continue to build the extraordinary progress we made. So we got to continue building this economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

And I mean that literally. I am so sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It does not work. When the middle class is doing well, and they do well because of labor, when the middle class is doing well, the poor have a way up and the wealthy do very, very well. They have never been hurt when the middle class is doing well, never, never.

[14:10:09]

So it's about time we start to regather and remember who we are, and get a lot of this done. But there's no better place of starting it than right here in the port and letting those nine foreign shippers understand the ripoff is over.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE) Thanks.

QUESTION: Exxon's profits, are you going to after them?

BIDEN: We're going to make sure that everybody knows Exxon's profits.

Why don't you tell them what Exxon's profits were this year -- this quarter? Exxon made more money than God this year. And, by the way, nothing's changed.

And they're not -- by the way, one thing I want to say about the oil companies. They talk about how we have -- they have 9,000 permits to drill. They're not drilling. Why aren't they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil. The price goes up, number one.

And, number two, the reason they're not drilling is, they're buying back their own stock, which should be taxed, quite frankly, buying back their own stock and making no new investments. So I always thought Republicans were for investment. Exxon, start investing and start paying your taxes. Thanks.

(APPLAUSE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: President Biden there at the Port of Los Angeles making a pretty broad economic speech, finishing up with a mention for the price of gas, which is a penny shy of $5 a gallon on average across the country, talked about prescription drugs and supply chain issues.

But, of course, the big headline of the day, the increase of inflation, the rate of inflation, 8.6 percent from May 2021 to May 2022, fastest paced in more than 40 years.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Joining us now to discuss, we have CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, CNN business reporter Matt Egan, and business journalist Marc Stewart.

Great to see all of you.

Matt Egan, I want to start with you. The president just said, the economy is doing very well, but for inflation. That seems like a big caveat.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's a huge asterisk.

He's right. Listen, the jobs market is very strong. But the problem is that people's paychecks are just not going as far as they used to. I mean, inflation was supposed to level out. We learned today it actually got worse. And, I mean, it's really about the four big key items, food, fuel, shelter, and used cars.

And the first three, those are essentials. You can't avoid paying that. And so that's why we actually also learned today that consumer sentiment fell to the lowest level on record. I mean, it's kind of amazing when you think about it, lower than the COVID low, lower than the financial crisis low.

So people are not happy with inflation. And, unfortunately, we learned today that it's getting worse.

BLACKWELL: Lowest record -- lowest number for sentiment, Kaitlan, in 70 years, back to November 1952.

This is not the speech the president wanted to give. He's there talking about trying to solve supply chain issues. But what's the White House view on inflation?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's basically no way for them to sugarcoat these numbers that came out today, because Matt is right. They were hoping that they were going to moderate a bit. They did not. Instead, they went up. Now they're the highest since they have been since 1981. And so there's no way to sugarcoat those numbers. President Biden didn't even try there, as you saw.He just said that they do recognize inflation is a real concern for American families.

And he kept saying he's doing everything in his power to bring those numbers down. But it was notable he said everything that is in his power, basically, the limits of his ability when it comes to these prices, as he talked about what he believes is responsible, not just the invasion of Ukraine, also talking about supply chain issues, while he's there at the Port of Los Angeles, but also talking about how a lot of this is going to be up to the Federal Reserve.

And you even heard from one of his top economist, Cecilia Rouse, saying earlier they know it doesn't sound like much of a plan to say our plan to fight inflation is to leave it up to the Federal Reserve. But, really, they feel like most of this is out of their hands when it comes to what the Federal Reserve is going to do to tame inflation, to try to tamper that, basically, without sending the economy into a recession.

And so you heard President Biden saying there at the end going after oil companies as well, he says, for not helping bring down gas prices, which obviously are helping drive the numbers that we're seeing today. He criticized Exxon, saying they made more money than God this year. And the president clearly frustrated with this, because this is a huge political liability for his party.

There are only five months to go before the midterm elections and consumers are not seeing any relief when it comes to higher prices. And so that is going to be a real struggle for the White House and for Democrats to deal with.

CAMEROTA: So, Marc, we're looking at the Dow right there. It's down roughly 750 points. Is that because we now know inflation has not peaked?

[14:15:01]

And when he says but core inflation is down, square that for us.

MARC STEWART, BUSINESS JOURNALIST: Well, let's take a step back away from the numbers and talk about the narrative at play.

We have high inflation. Investors don't like that. We also don't have a road map for the future. Investors don't like that. So the market is going to react. There's also this big uncertainty about what the Fed will do next, as Kaitlan mentioned

You think about the Fed, they will try to use in their toolbox raising interest rates to try to quell demand. But the thing is this. Interest rate hikes don't necessarily appear overnight. It's kind of like preheating the oven. It takes some time for it to get going.

One economist said to me could take anywhere from five to 16 months to see any kind of result from interest rate hikes. And as far as core inflation, well, at the end of the day, things that are hurting people most, as Matt said, food and fuel. That's really hard to reconcile.

BLACKWELL: Kaitlan, the president topped his remarks today by talking about the first hearing from the January 6 Committee on their findings over the last year, saying that it's important for the American people to know what happened.

COLLINS: You know, it stands out to me that twice now President Biden unprompted has brought up the hearing that happened last night in Washington.

He brought it up yesterday, saying that he believed a lot of Americans were going to learn details about what happened that day for the first time during that hearing. He brought it up here today at the beginning of his remarks that were on inflation, on the latest jobs numbers -- on the latest economic numbers that we have seen coming out.

And he talked about how he didn't get a chance to watch it because he's here in L.A. hosting this summit. He had this dinner with world leaders. But he talked about how important he thinks it is these hearings are happening and telling the full story of not only what happened on January 6, but before and after as well, because he says the same forces that cause that day, caused that to happen are still at work today, basically implying that those who sought to overturn the results of a legitimate election by storming the Capitol and doing what they did are still trying to subvert efforts when it comes to democracy.

And he said how important it is to make sure you maintain a healthy and vigorous democracy. And I think it was very notable that he went out of his way to bring that up there at the beginning, talking about not just what the hearing means about what happened in the past, but what it means going forward.

BLACKWELL: Kaitlan Collins, Matt Egan, Marc Stewart, thank you.

CAMEROTA: So, as we were just discussing, the House select committee began building its case against Donald Trump and his role in the January 6 insurrection. So what comes next?

We discuss that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:53]

CAMEROTA: The select committee investigating the January 6 riot is preparing for its next session, which will be Monday.

According to the vice chair, Liz Cheney, the focus will be on Donald Trump's -- quote -- "massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information, even though Trump and his advisers knew that he had in fact lost the election" -- end quote.

We have just learned a former FOX political editor will be one of the witnesses called to testify. Now, last night, the committee gave a damning two-hour opening presentation with graphic video and never- before-heard testimony. And they argued that the former president led a sophisticated seven-point plan to overturn the 2020 election, incite the Capitol riot and subvert American democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): All Americans should keep in fact -- in mind, this fact. On the morning of January 6, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain president of the United States, despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election, and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The committee aired testimony from Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr, who says that he told Trump that his rigged election claims were B.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I repeatedly told the president in no uncertain terms -- heck, I did not see evidence of fraud, and that would have affected the outcome of the election.

And, frankly, a year-and-a-half later, I haven't seen anything to change my mind on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The panel also showed never-before-seen video of rioters storming the Capitol, attacking law enforcement officers, as panicked staffers from Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's office rushed out of his Capitol office there.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill.

A big night, first night for the committee, showing some of what they have. Where do they go from here?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor and Alisyn, what we saw last night was really a tease for a month's worth of hearings where they're going to really lay out the case that they made about those seven points that they believe Donald Trump is responsible for, an attempt to undermine the election results and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

And part of their goal here is to show evidence that connects the dots between all these various plots, that you don't have the attempt to undermine the election results without the violence and chaos at the Capitol. And part of that has to do with bringing that mob of individuals here to Washington, including groups who had a specific intention of causing chaos and breaking into the Capitol, like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, the right-wing extremist groups, the members of which have already been charged with serious crimes by the Department of Justice. And listen to what Chairman Bennie Thompson told our Jake Tapper last night about what the committee has learned about the ties between Trump world and those members of those right-wing extremist groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Are there going to be witnesses that describe actual conversations between these extremist groups and anyone in Trump's orbit?

[14:25:03]

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Yes.

TAPPER: There will be?

THOMPSON: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: The chairman pretty specific about that.

So, the question now, Victor and Alisyn, how do they lay that information out in the hearings to come.

CAMEROTA: But, Ryan, how about that information where it came out that several Republicans had sought pardons from President Trump? What do we know about that?

NOBLES: Yes, that was something that caught a lot of people by surprise. We should point out that CNN reported in January of 2021 that there were a group of Republican members of Congress that sought pardons from the former president.

But they did offer up a new name last night, and that's Congressman Scott Perry. Listen to what Vice Chair Liz Cheney had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: Representative Scott Perry, who was also involved in trying to get Clark appointed as attorney general, has refused to testify here.

As you will see, Representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6 to seek a presidential pardon. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles and attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And CNN reported some of those other congressmen include Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mo Brooks.

Now, the question, of course, is, if you were seeking a pardon, why are you now saying that you did nothing wrong, which is what something all of these members of Congress have said.

Now, Scott Perry himself pushing back on this claim on Twitter today. He said -- quote -- "The notion that I ever sought a presidential pardon for myself or other members of Congress is an absolute shameless and soulless lie."

So, of course, the question now, Victor and Alisyn, is does the committee have this evidence, as they claim, and when will they present it to the American people? That's something we're going to have to wait and see -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, right now. Ryan Nobles, thank you very much.

So the hearing also revealed never-before-seen video of leaders of the right-wing extremist groups the Proud Boys in the Oath Keepers. This shows that they met in a garage on January 5. That's the night before the Capitol riot. The video also shows just some of the violence that the Proud Boy members used against police officers.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has the details.

So, Jessica, what have you learned?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn and Victor, Ryan actually just touched on this as well.

But the committee here is really laying the groundwork to put together more of the pieces about how the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers came together in what appears to be a coordinated attack on the Capitol. And you heard there Bennie Thompson promising that there was some communication between Trump officials and members of these groups.

So far, the Justice Department has already charged 17 members of both of these groups with seditious conspiracy. That's a charge that they plotted to overthrow the government. It's now moving through the courts. It carries up to 20 years in prison.

And the committee here really teased that they want to flesh out more about how Trump might be linked to these extremists. The committee did play that video from the presidential debate in 2020 where former President Trump refused to condemn those right-wing extremist groups.

And then the committee laid out evidence about how this and other Trump tweets really galvanized members of those groups. So here's what some of those members said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had mentioned that the president asked you. Do you remember a specific message?

DANIEL HERENDEEN, SENTENCED TO 36 MONTHS PROBATION: Basically, yes. For us to come to D.C. Big things are going to happen.

MATTHEW WALTER, PROUD BOYS: What got me interested is, he said, "I have something very important to say, on January 6," or something like that, is what got, what one -- what got me interested, to be there.

ROBERT SCHORNACK, SENTENCED TO 36 MONTHS PROBATION: You know, Trump has only asked me for two things. He asked me for my vote. And he asked me to come on January 6.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: So, there are a lot of questions as to the president's involvement, former president's involvement, any of his officials talking with these groups.

So we can be sure, Alisyn and Victor, there's a lot more to come from the committee about these groups, especially because committee members pointed out many members of the Proud Boys didn't even show up to Trump's speech on the Ellipse on January 6. They went first to the Washington Monument. They scoped out the Capitol grounds. And they really seemed to spur the violence once that mob descended on the Capitol.

So a lot more to come from the committee starting on Monday with those next hearings -- guys.

BLACKWELL: Jessica Schneider for us in Washington.

Thank you very much, Jessica.

Joining us now, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. He's the host of the new CNN Digital series "REALITY CHECK." Also with, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

Gentlemen, welcome.

I want to start, of course, have a broader conversation, but I want to start where Jessica just left off here about this video from members of the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, that meeting in the garage on the 5th, and also the testimony from a documentarian, who said that -- do we have that sound bite?

Let's play it, his testimony yesterday about early morning activities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK QUESTED, DOCUMENTARIAN: We met up with the Proud Boys somewhere around 10:30 a.m., and they were starting to walk down the Mall, easterly direction towards the Capitol.