Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden's Fourth of July Message, Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead; Thousands of Flights Delayed, Canceled Over July 4 Weekend; Rep. Liz Cheney Says, January 6 Committee Could Make Criminal Referral Against Trump. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 04, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, top of the hour, I'm Christine Romans. Jim and Poppy are off for this special holiday edition of CNN Newsroom.

As Independence Day festivities kick off around this morning, travelers are facing high gas prices and major snags at the airport. A live report ahead on the thousands of flights that have been delayed or canceled over the weekend.

We're also following protest in Akron, Ohio after a body cam video was released in a fatal police shooting. The family of Jayland Walker demanding answers after officers opened fire leaving him with at least 60 gunshot wounds. The mayor of that city speaking out. You'll see the video for yourself.

And the January 6 committee says new witnesses are now coming forward after Cassidy Hutchinson damning testimony last week and they're not ruling out a criminal referral for former President Trump. We'll get to all of those headlines.

But, first, President Biden is kicking off the holiday with a tweet saying that the country's best days lie ahead but he's facing a handful of challenges.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me from the White House. Jeremy, what is on the president's agenda today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine. President Biden is still at Camp David this morning but he will be returning to the White House this afternoon to host military families for a barbecue and a celebration this afternoon. And then he'll watch the fireworks from the White House this evening.

But the president kicking the day off with this tweet saying that the 4th of July is a sacred holiday, a sacred day in our country, and he says, make no mistake, our best days still lie ahead.

But at the same time, President Biden is dealing with messaging on the current state of the country and the current state of the economy with high inflation and high gas prices of which many Americans are being reminded this weekend as they hit the roads for the 4th of July weekend. The president over the weekend taking to Twitter to encourage and to really push gas station companies to lower the price at the pump, to make sure, in his word, bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you're paying for the product and do it now.

Now, that earned the president some backlash with some, including Jeff Bezos, calling that a misdirection or a misunderstanding of basic market dynamics as the president seeks to pressure the gas companies to lower the price at the pump. The reality is the White House hasn't provided any evidence for its claim here that gas station companies are misleading or withholding some of the savings that they are getting. The reality is there are some very volatile market dynamics at play here and those gas station companies are rarely the ones reaping in those record profits.

But, nonetheless, the White House standing by its messaging and really, ultimately here at a time when they have very few remaining tools to bring those gas prices down, they're relying on messaging and trying to show Americans at least that they care and that they are on top of this issue of gas prices even if there's very little more that they can actually do. Christine?

ROMANS: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you for that.

All right, despite thousands of delays and cancelations, more travelers pass through TSA checkpoints this holiday weekend than at any point since the start of the pandemic.

CNN's Nadia Romero joins me now from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. How chaotic has this been for travelers? And I got to say, as much as we're hearing about delays and disruptions, people are still traveling like crazy.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine. No one is slowing down, especially now that people feel like the rest of the world has opened back up. It's time to get out and enjoy, because we remember what it was like when we were in the lockdown in the earliest stages of pandemic. People want to put that behind them and enjoy their 4th of July weekend.

But, unfortunately, we are seeing about 800 flights being delayed, about 160 flights canceled today and that just has a ripple effect for all the other days. If you take a look behind me, though, if you're flight is still on time, if it hasn't been canceled, you have a very easy path to get through general boarding here through TSA security checkpoint here. You can just clearly walk through.

Look at this gentleman as he walks all the way up very casually to the front counter to get checked in. That was not the case this weekend. All of these rows were full of people and the line wrapped clear around the airport from where you would leave your bags and check in your baggage. So, that is a big change today. But we're still seeing people who have had so many troubles trying to get through the airport. Let's look at those TSA security checkpoint numbers. The lowest amount we saw was on yesterday, was Sunday, with 2.1 million travelers making their way through the airport. That number going up Saturday., 2.2 million. Friday, 2.5 million people went through TSA security checkpoints. That was the highest level since February 2020, and then on Thursday, 2.4 million.

And it makes sense when you think about, people wanted to get a head start on their holiday travel. So, you saw a lot more people on Thursday and Friday. And then that tend to taper off. We expect that number to be lower today as well.

But we did speak with one woman who was on her way back from London and she said she had ten fabulous days in London but then had a disastrous trip trying to make it home and she's still got one more leg to go.

[10:05:05]

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I flew in last night from London. I waited an hour to drop off my bag, another hour in security. My flight from Orlando was delayed twice. I ended up having to spend the night for free, obviously, in Atlanta when I'm trying to get home to Cincinnati. So, I spent 22 hours traveling to have two delayed flight and stay where my final destination is not.

I fly pretty frequently and I've never seen it so crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And, really, at this point, Megan told me this morning she was just hoping to get on her last flight from Atlanta to Cincinnati, and then she's hoping her luggage is there when she gets to Cincinnati too.

But as you're traveling, almost all of your travel costs have gone up. Air fare is up 14 percent compared to last year. Getting a hotel is going to cost you about 23 percent more

than last year. And, of course, gas prices up 52 percent compared the last year, even though they have come down in recent days.

And, Christine, the majority of people who plan to travel this weekend, 88 percent of Americans will travel by car, many of them traveling 50 miles or more. So, if you're trying to avoid coming to the airport and hitting the road, you're going to see high congestion there as well. Christine?

ROMANS: Yes. And, again, none of those factors deterring anybody after two years of staying home, they are hitting the roads this summer.

Nadia Romero, thank you so much, great reporting there. Joining me now to discuss is Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants. She represents 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines.

And I'm so eager for your perspective, Sara, because so often we hear about this from the travelers' perspective. But I can't imagine how trying this must be for the people who are working those flight and dealing with those delays. My niece just flew into Newark a couple of nights ago and they sat on the tarmac for, I think, 30 minutes waiting for someone who can actually open the door to the plane. There wasn't somebody to open the door, right? I mean, the staffing shortages are just intense. How is it being felt on your end?

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: It's very difficult for the people on the frontlines, and I appreciate your empathy and understanding. And, actually, we've heard that from a lot travelers. So, thank you for making that part of your reporting.

But staffing was cut down to minimum levels prior to the pandemic. So, some of the extrication of the cost from the airlines before the pandemic even hit, and that was being pushed then into stock buybacks, and we were protesting that a lot. But now, today, for us on the frontlines, when there's delays like this, this is very hard on the crew. Oftentimes, crews are waiting for one, two, three, four hours to get in touch with a crew scheduler. That means if we're not getting our next assignment, we're timing out. And so we're very frustrated with the airlines on the backend on operational support during this time too.

ROMANS: It's just remarkable. You talk about how the airlines -- well, there's just no slack. There's just zero slack. So, you have this huge demand for travel at a time when you have staffing shortages. You throw in weather. I mean, it is literally a perfect storm in many cases for some of these flights.

What do you think needs to be done here, cutting capacity, canceling some of these flights ahead of time? I mean, I know United and some of the airlines have been cutting 50 flights a day out of Newark, for example. Because why make the promise of a flight on time if you're not going to be able to deliver?

NELSON: Right. So -- absolutely. And the airlines did in advance of this holiday weekend take out some of the capacity so that we're not overpromising. We don't need people coming to the airport and then not being able to take care of them. So, that was helpful and that needed to happen.

But they also need to make sure that they are getting crews to these flights on the front end of their trips so positive space. Many of the crew members are commuting by air from other cities because it's too expensive to live in the hubs where we're based.

So, the airlines need to provide that support. They need to staff up on the operational support, like I was just talk about. And they can do these things very quickly as opposed to very skilled jobs that take time to get people into them. So, cut back on that capacity, not overpromise to provide that operational support.

And also they need to get busy at the negotiating table. We need to negotiate contracts that are going to attract people to these professions so that we can get them in pipeline of training and get through this hopefully in the next several months here. That's more of a longer term issue, but they need to get on it now.

ROMANS: Sara, there's been plenty of criticism for the airline industry that they did not foresee this inevitable jump in demand, that they cut too many jobs during COVID after receiving more than $50 billion of taxpayer funds, right, to prevent layoffs and they still had all of these buyout of pilots and the like.

[10:10:00]

Is all that criticism fair? Should the airlines have managed this better?

NELSON: Look, that payroll support did not cover -- it covered about 50 percent of the payroll, and it did go directly to the workers. It was a workers first package that was exceptional. And it's being lauded actually around the world. If we hadn't had that in place, you would not want the see the airlines today. We would not be able to respond to this.

However, what I do want to say is that, yes, they did push people out the door during that time. They took advantage of that. But we did put controls on them. There's a ban on stock buybacks until the end of September, a cap on executive pay until next March. So, there were some control on greed that the unions pushed for. Even so, they took measures to cut a lot of staff during this time.

And Ed Bastian, for example, the CEO of Delta, has bragged about the juniority benefits, paying people less at the lower end of the pay scale. And at Delta, for example, they are operating with way fewer -- thousands of fewer flight attendants this year with the same number of flight hours than they were in 2019.

So, there's some criticism for the airlines here too, but I want to remind people that when flights don't take off or they're canceled, it's not always the airline's fault. And so show a little empathy to the people on the frontlines. We're trying to do everything we can. But we're going to get you there safely too. So, we're not going to put in a situation where that flight might be unsafe because we're rushing.

ROMANS: Yes. And I think you said you've been on three flights in the past few days and all of them were on time, right? Is that true?

NELSON: All of them were on time. That's true. You heard me say that. Okay, yes.

ROMANS: Okay, good. All right, so it's not as bad as it seems, maybe. All right, Sara Nelson, nice to see you, thank you so much.

NELSON: Nice to see you too. Thank you. Happy 4th. ROMANS: You too.

Some cities are getting chance to host their July 4th celebrations for the first time since the pandemic began, including Milwaukee, where they put on this great show last night along the lake. But there are some spots, including in Texas, where fireworks had to be canceled because of drought and fire concerns.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins me now from Santa Monica Beach. Natasha, what are you seeing there?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, right now, it's still early. We've just got cyclists and joggers going past us. But this is going to be a prime viewing spot for a lot of people this evening. While there aren't any city fireworks here, there will be some at Pacific Palisades, north of us, and then Marina Del Rey, south of us. So, a good spot to see area fireworks,

Now, there are fireworks around the Los Angeles area, including the Hollywood Bowl where I saw some on Saturday, Dodgers Stadium. But this is happening at a time when fire officials are extremely concerned with the severe drought conditions, with wildfire conditions.

I want to show you this one graph that really says it all. This graph shows the number of fires discovered every day of the year going back to 2014. And just take a look at the middle spike there. Those are the fires discovered around July 4th each year going back to 2014. That says a lot.

That's why a lot of fire officials are really pleading with people not to purchase or use their own personal fireworks, to go see a professional show instead. And given the wildfire conditions around the western area, especially the southwest, some places are deciding to take a less traditional approach.

Salt Lake City is not doing a traditional show. They are doing a laser show instead. North Lake Tahoe, which went through the Caldor fire last year, they are doing a drone light display. Claremont near Los Angeles here taking a look at the water preservation that needs to happen right now are saying that, every year, 650,000 gallons of water are needed to water that area every day just leading up to the show.

So, instead this year, they are not going to do a traditional fireworks show. They are going to do a concert instead. Christine?

ROMANS: That's really interesting, some of those cities, the take they have.

All right, Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

And a reminder, CNN's live celebration of the 4th of July begins tonight 7:00 P.M. Eastern. Don't miss the coast-to-coast fireworks and performance from more than a dozen stars, including Pitbull, Willie Nelson, Gloria Estefan, The Luminers. Don't miss it, only on CNN.

Next, new details from the January 6th committee about what their next hearing will focus on and the new witnesses coming forward.

Plus, the impact of the Supreme Court's abortion ruling on fertility treatments, I'll speak with a legal experts who says this is creating chaos for families going through the IVF process.

And later, the school police chief who was in charge at the scene of the Uvalde school shooting resigns from his city council post. Why one state senator says that is not enough.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

ROMANS: All right. The vice chair of the January 6 committee says the panel could make multiple criminal referrals to the Justice Department, including for former President Trump. Listen to what Republican Liz Cheney told ABC this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): The Justice Department doesn't have to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral. And there could be more than one criminal referral.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. Let's bring CNN's Katelyn Polantz. What more are you learning about these referrals and what's next for these hearings, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Christine, criminal referrals have been a major political question hanging over this House committee for some time now. Will they ask the Justice Department to look at prosecuting certain crimes the committee believes they have found during their investigation?

Now, this is a political question. It's not a legal one because the Justice Department does not need Congress to tell it what to investigate. We already know prosecutors are already watching these hearings closely and there are already multiple criminal investigations into the rally, fake electors and the riot itself.

But we do have this weekend Congresswoman Liz Cheney raising the possibility that the committee could formally ask the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump especially after that blockbuster testimony from White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson last week, revealing Trump's support of the rioters.

[10:20:14]

Cheney said the committee will have to decide whether to make referrals. And last week, former prosecutors, defense attorneys, even a former attorney for Trump himself, were in agreement on how propulsive that testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson was.

The overwhelming consensus in the legal community is that, at the very least, Hutchinson's accusations about Trump should be investigated by the Justice Department. More witnesses should be questioned to corroborate what she said under oath and we're already seeing hints that Hutchinson's testimony has forced more accounts of what happened into January 6 into the light.

Here is Committee Member Adam Kinzinger on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I don't want to get into who or any of those details, and it's not even just Cassidy. And, by the way, she's been inspiring for a lot of people. This happens every day. Every day, we get new people that come forward and say, hey, I didn't think maybe this piece of a story that I knew was important, but now that you guys -- like I do see this plays in here.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Will we hear from witnesses that you did not know about, the stories you did not hear because of the hearing so far?

KINZINGER: Yes. There will be -- there is. There will be way more information and stay tuned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Christine, Kinzinger said another important thing in that interview with Dana Bash. He said no one has come forward disputing the most legally significant parts of what Cassidy Hutchinson said under oath about Donald Trump wanting to go to the Capitol on January 6th and knowing that some of his rally attendees were armed. Christine?

ROMANS: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

And joining me now to discuss is CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen. He worked as a special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in Trump's first impeachment trial. Nice to see you this morning. Thank you for stopping by on a holiday.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, you heard her say that the Justice Department doesn't have to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral. How significant are potential criminal referrals from this committee? And do you think the DOJ will be more likely to pursue criminal charges if they get them from the committee?

EISEN: I think that referrals would be very significant and would increase the likelihood that DOJ prosecutes. We have seen now Cassidy Hutchinson is only the latest to provide criminally relevant evidence from multiple crimes, not just at the federal level, where we're look at things like the obstruction of Congress, Christine, a federal crime, but also at the state level where a special grand jury is sitting in Georgia and, of course, we heard from the Georgia state officials that Trump was involved in pushing for votes that did not exist. So, I think he has exposure and criminal referrals will make it worse.

ROMANS: Representative Adam Schiff also said the committee's next hearing is going to focus on the connections between the Trump White House and these various organizations that were there present at the January 6th rally in Washington ahead of the attack on the Capitol. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The very next hearing will be focused on the efforts to assemble that mob on the mall, who was participating, who was financing it, how it was organized, including the participation of these white nationalist groups, like the Proud Boy, the Three Percenters and others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: What do you think those witnesses will be contributing to the investigation? And will they be able to connect these dots?

EISEN: Well, before Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, we already knew that Trump pushed the lie that he had won the election knowing full well he hadn't, and he pushed legal arguments knowing that they were not right. We learned from Cassidy about his ties to the violence on January 6th, knowing that the mob was armed and wanting to go with them.

I think what we're going to learn in this Proud Boys and Oath Keepers hearing is the ways that people in Trump world were connected to the planning, the funding and the organization of January 6th who got a little bit of a tease about that, Christine, when Cassidy Hutchinson said she'd heard about the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in connection with Rudy Giuliani.

So, I expect that those links in the chain of criminality that tie Donald Trump to the violence knowing he lost the election still attacking, those links are going to be multiplied when the hearings resume.

ROMANS: Do you think this is part of the plan by the committee for this testimony, Hutchinson's testimony, to give others who may have information the confidence to come forward?

[10:25:02]

EISEN: No doubt. They have shown that they are taking this seriously. She was very brave in stepping forward. She provided important details. CNN corroborated afterwards that stories like the one she told had been circulating in the Secret Service and even talked in the Secret Service of some kind of a lunge forward by President Trump.

So, yes, the more they do, success breeds success, and they have been very successful.

ROMANS: Yes. Certainly, there have been chatter that -- CNN reporting that there have been chatter among the Secret Service about a confrontation, a big confrontation between the president and his team. And we'll see. Maybe there will be more sworn testimony about the details of that. Who knows?

Norm Eisen, thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning. Have a great holiday.

EISEN: Thanks, Christine. Happy 4th to you.

ROMANS: You too.

All right, next, the police chief in Akron, Ohio who says officers will have to account for each one of the dozens of rounds they fired at a unarmed man during a police pursuit, we'll take you there live as protests erupt over the fatal shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]