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Police Shoot Woman in Dallas Airport; Heat Wave; January 6 Committee Releases New Evidence; Economic Outlook;. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 25, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

We're following several developing stories this hour.

The January 6 Committee releasing new video that gives new insight into how former President Trump tried to avoid calling out the violent mob who attacked the Capitol.

BLACKWELL: A short time from now, we will hear from the mother of an American who was just killed in Ukraine., what she says about his service on the front lines of the war.

Also, this is a critical week for the economy. We are expecting a deluge of economic data to drop almost every day. It will hopefully provide insight to the millions of Americans getting pummeled by 40- year-high inflation.

CAMEROTA: So, some analysts believe the U.S. is hurtling into a recession. But the White House is hammering the message that the economy is resilient. So we will get a better sense of how the public is feeling tomorrow, when consumer confidence numbers come out.

BLACKWELL: Then it's the Federal Reserve's turn. It meets Wednesday and will likely hike interest rates again to try to tame surging prices on everything from eggs to beef to, well, everything, rent as well.

Thursday, GDP second-quarter results are due.

CAMEROTA: OK, so CNN's Matt Egan and Rahel Solomon are here with us now, thank goodness.

So, Matt, all of this economic data is going to be coming this week. What do we need to focus on most? What's most important?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes.

Well, Alisyn and Victor, this is shaping up to be a pivotal week for the economy. Politico dubbed it a Category 5 storm of economic news that is coming. And it really could help answer this big guessing game about whether or not we're in a recession or possibly headed towards one.

Tomorrow, I will be looking at those consumer confidence numbers. That could show whether or not confidence has started to improve now that gasoline prices have plunged below $4.40 a gallon nationally. I will be in Washington on Wednesday for the Fed meeting. We are expecting a another monster interest rate increase from the Fed to try to fight inflation.

And that means higher borrowing costs for all of us. But all eyes are going to be on that GDP report on Thursday. Remember, GDP surged last year as the economy recovered. It actually declined during the first quarter. It was a big surprise. And there's a risk that GDP declined again during the second quarter.

Remember, GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity. It shows which industries are growing and which ones aren't. And if it shows another decline, that is going to, of course, just amplify these economic concerns. Listen, the stakes here are massive, not just for the White House and for investors, but really for everyone because their livelihoods, their jobs, their nest eggs, it's all going to be really shaped by what happens here in this economy.

BLACKWELL: So two consecutive quarters of negative growth suggests obviously momentum in a certain direction. But is that the definition of a recession, because the White House is playing along that line?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's more so a rule of thumb. It is not the technical definition.

The technical definition is going to come from a group of about nine economists, private nonprofit organization, the National Bureau of Economic Research, that will essentially decide. And they do it sort of secretly, and mysteriously. They sort of decide when a recession actually has started.

They tend to be quite down the line. It tends to come after a recession has actually started. But that's why you have seen some pushback from the White House that two consecutive negative quarters does not a recession make. And, technically, it doesn't.

There is also, however, a question of whether it is technically a recession or not, a lot of people seem to think that we are in a recession. And that matters too.

CAMEROTA: Matt, I am fascinated by what's happening to the federal deficit.

So, two years ago, under President Trump, it was super high. As we know, it was something like $3.1 trillion in 2020. Then it went down to $2.8 trillion 2021. It is now projected to be only $850 billion in 2022. How is it? I thought that the deficit basically always went up, but now it's going down. Why?

EGAN: Yes.

Well, I think this is some positive news in the midst of a whole bunch of bad economic news. Goldman Sachs called this a -- quote -- "remarkable improvement."

As far as why it's happening, well, listen, we have to remember what happened in 2020, 2021 COVID, massive amounts of COVID spending from the federal government, bailouts, stimulus checks, forgivable loans for small businesses. All of that sent the federal deficit skyrocketing to levels we have never seen before.

It has come down dramatically because the government is taking in more revenue from consumers, from businesses as the economy has improved. It's not spending as much money because the economy's not in the massive meltdown than it was. But let's not forget these are still big numbers. I mean, this $850 billion projected federal deficit, that's still a big number.

[14:05:02]

BLACKWELL: Yes. Better, though, than it was.

EGAN: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about what the White House is saying, that a recession is not inevitable. What are the indicators they're pointing toward?

SOLOMON: Well, two things.

And one thing actually is the most important, the labor market, right, the jobs market, i.e., people still have jobs. We're at 3.6 percent nationally. When you look under the hood of that, there are 21 states right now with unemployment at 3 percent or less. So people have jobs and have money.

The question, however, is with the wage increases that we have seen. That's been outpaced by inflation. Even if you are employed, but certainly if you are paycheck to paycheck, and you're experiencing inflation at 9.1 percent, how much really does that actually create?

And so that's the concern here. I should, however, say that the unemployment report -- the jobs report, rather, is monthly, right? It's a monthly look. There has been a lot more attention these days on the weekly initial claims number. This is the number of people filing for unemployment benefits.

And it is still historically low, but it is trending higher. And it has been every week. We're now seeing it at a level we haven't seen since mid-November. And it's not necessarily sounding off alarm bells, but it is certainly raising eyebrows about, well, is this the trend? Will we continue to see more unemployment filings?

BLACKWELL: Yes, we will see a lot of you two this week. We have got a lot coming. Rahel, Matt, thank you both.

EGAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So, the January 6 Committee just released a new video showing the Donald Trump crossed out key parts of his speech to the country on January 7, the day after the Capitol riot.

Here is the written speech. You can see it on your screen. And Ivanka Trump told the committee that the handwriting looks like her father's.

BLACKWELL: CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles joins us live from the Capitol.

Ryan, important lines that apparently the president did not want to say. Walk us through them.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Victor and Alisyn.

He seemed resistant to try and put any level of blame on his supporters that were attacking the Capitol on that day. And he also did not seem to want to strike a tone of conciliation as to the election being over and the country coming together. Take a -- just a listen to this clip that the committee put out earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: In my view, he needed to express very clearly that the people who committed violent acts, went into the Capitol, did what they did should be prosecuted and should be arrested.

QUESTION: It looks like here that he crossed out that he was directing the Department of Justice to ensure all law breakers are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. "We must send a clear message not with mercy, but with justice. Legal consequences must be swift and firm."

Do you know why he wanted that crossed out?

JARED KUSHNER, FORMER SENIOR PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: When you take this and you add it into the clips that the committee already showed of the outtakes of the former president really struggling to get through what ended up being only a three- minute address to the country, it just shows where his head was the day after this awful riot that took place on Capitol Hill.

He certainly didn't seem to be rushing to take any responsibility for what happened, but even further on was not looking to hold anyone else accountable either -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, Ryan, we understand that one big name on the panel's radar is conservative activist Ginni Thomas, who, of course, is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Are they going to subpoena her?

NOBLES: Well, that is an open question. There's no doubt about that, Alisyn. And they are certainly not ruling out a subpoena of Ginni Thomas. But I wonder just how serious this possibility is. There's no doubt the committee is concerned about the role that she played in all of this. She was in contact with Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, John Eastman, the conservative lawyer.

But the communications that we have seen, the evidence that's been presented seems to be more as a cheerleader, not someone that was actually an active participant in all of this. Now, she did play a significant role in raising money to help with the formation of these rallies that brought people to Washington, D.C., on January 6.

And there's also just kind of the overarching concern about what, if any, influence she had over her husband in some key decisions that the Supreme Court had to make as it related to January 6 and other things. She says that the work of her and her husband are completely separate, the committee not really out bringing her in.

At this point, though, it doesn't seem as though she's as high on the list of priorities as many -- as maybe some of the other targets that they're focused on right now -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, really interesting.

Ryan Nobles, thank you for the reporting.

Joining us now, we have CNN political commentator Errol Louis and former federal and state prosecutor Danya Perry.

Danya, I want to just start right there with Ginni Thomas. Why is there a question as to whether or not the committee would subpoena her? I mean, if she was playing a significant role in the fund-raising of the rallies that brought the mob to D.C., she was talking to Eastman, the president's attorney, she was talking to the chief of staff, why is there even a question about whether or not they would subpoena her?

[14:10:00]

DANYA PERRY, FORMER SDNY PROSECUTOR: As a legal matter, there should be no question. She should be treated just like any other witness.

She has no immunity of any kind, no claim of executive privilege or any other type of privilege. There may be political implications or reasons why the committee might be reluctant. But, from what we have heard recently, Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney has made stronger statements that they are in fact willing to subpoena her if she does not testify voluntarily.

So they are at least talking the talk now. And, originally, Ginni Thomas had said she'd be willing to testify voluntarily. That appears to have fallen by the wayside. So -- but there is nothing to stop the committee from testifying. And, as was said in the lead-up, she certainly has plenty of information, having testified -- having texted prestigiously with at least Mark Meadows and John Eastman and many others. So I think she would have a lot to add to the information that they're

building.

BLACKWELL: Errol, you think they hear from Ginni Thomas without that subpoena? They will have to go to that step if they want her in front of the committee?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would imagine that if they -- if she wants to be held to her promise to voluntarily testify, they would get quite a lot of valuable information.

But I don't think this committee wants to go through the -- what would surely be a multimonth, if not multiyear legal tangle trying to get her to show up if she wants to resist their subpoena. She, of course, has the right, like anybody else, to resist the subpoena, to bring up whatever facts or arguments she might choose to create to try and fend that off.

But we're in such untried territory before. We have never had the wife of a Supreme Court justice acting in this way. I mean, what concerns me most, the 29 e-mails that she sent to members of the Arizona state legislature urging them to support a slate of fake electors. This just has never happened before.

So I don't know if they're going to necessarily choose to make this the story and maybe even delay their completion of their work just for information that would be maybe embarrassing, but not necessarily all that probative of what they're trying to find out.

CAMEROTA: Danya, I want to play for you two committee members who were on Sunday shows yesterday with, I think, a mixed message in terms of criminal -- possible criminal referral for former President Trump. So, let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We have not decided yet as a committee whether we're going to make criminal referrals. But that's absolutely something we're looking at.

REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): I sure as hell hope they have a criminal investigation at this point into Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, help us parse that. So one committee member sure as hell hopes that the Department of Justice is going to criminally investigate Donald Trump, while another one is saying that they haven't even decided if they will make a criminal referral.

PERRY: What is important to keep in mind here is that it matters not at all whether the committee makes a criminal referral.

The Department of Justice is -- not unlike, for example, a referral for contempt of Congress, which does have to, in fact, come from the congressional committee and from Congress, a criminal referral for whatever it may be, seditious conspiracy, or obstruction of justice, or witness tampering, or efforts to defraud the United States, those do not have to be by referral.

So the Department of Justice is looking like everybody else. A.G. Merrick Garland has said that he's watching, he and his line prosecutors are watching very closely. So they really don't need anything from this committee in order to investigate and, if they feel that the evidence warrants, to indict.

And the committee might feel that, for political reasons, it is more expedient for them not to make a referral, to let the Department of Justice look at this dispassionately and decide for itself.

BLACKWELL: Errol, on this release from the committee of the lines scratched out of the draft of the speech the president was expected to deliver on January 7, there have been some questions about how the committee would sustain interest over the August recess until the September hearings.

Apparently, we're seeing the beginnings of a strategy.

LOUIS: Oh, absolutely.

I mean, again, they staged it as a television drama. They hired a TV producer to help them stage it as a television drama. These are little Easter eggs. These are little coming attractions before the new season starts in September, if you want to think of it that way.

And I think they have got a treasure trove of information. They have got tons of video. They have got lots of damning information. They couldn't fit it into the first eight hearings. But I think we're going to see little pieces of it to make sure that the public doesn't lose sight of this, of the importance of it, to make sure the news media doesn't stray on to other stories, and that this stays top of mind in time for the hearings when they do resume in the fall.

BLACKWELL: All right, Errol Louis, Danya Perry, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Well, first responders in California are trying to gain control of an extremely fast-moving wildfire. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their home.

[14:15:06]

BLACKWELL: And scorching temperatures are fueling those fires and drought across the country, more than 60 million Americans enduring brutally high temperatures. When we can expect some relief.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: More than 60 million people in the U.S. remain under heat alerts.

BLACKWELL: CNN meteorologist Tom Sater is here, Tom, when do we get a break from all of this.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: December, I think would be nice.

BLACKWELL: Oh, nice.

SATER: No, we have broken hundreds of records this month, but we also broke them in June. We broke them in May. Welcome to a changing climate.

A year ago, we had a terrible heat outbreak in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Over 400 people died in Western Canada. It's not going to be that hot, but this heat is going to be hanging around for the entire week and in and through the next weekend. So this is prolonged. It's just been moving around the country.

[14:20:17]

Now, the fires down in California, we will get to. But look at these numbers, Seattle, 92; 44 percent of metro Seattle has air conditioning, but then you get into Portland and you're well in the triple digits. Down where the firefighters are fighting, they're well above their average too at 100-degree heat.

But this relentless heat in the Plains has been spreading to the eastward, really set some amazing records. Now, we still have the advisories. They have been extended through the day today, will be coming to an end. Boston, 100 degrees, that broke a record, 1933, Newark 102, five consecutive days above 100. That's never happened since records started 19331.

Here come the severe weather storms that are moving in with lightning and damaging winds, now, just moments ago, a severe thunderstorm watch until 8:00 to the north, until 10:00 p.m. to the south. We have already had numerous flight delays with a pretty good cell moving through areas, with delays in Teterboro and JFK and Newark. These storms are going to continue.

The problem is, when you have this heat buildup, you really get tremendous wind damage with this. I mean, thousands have lost power in the Ohio Valley up into parts of the Great Lakes. But, New York City, you do get some relief. I want to show you the four-day, though, because it doesn't last long. Philadelphia, you're back into the 90s when we get into Thursday.

Welcome to a record-breaking summer, I guess.

BLACKWELL: Already feeling it.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BLACKWELL: Tom, thank you.

SATER: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk now about those fires near Yosemite National Park that Tom mentioned. More than 16,000 acres have burned and dozens of people had been ordered to leave.

CAMEROTA: We have some infrared video to show you. And it shows just the intensity basically of the fire last night.

CNN national correspondent Camila Bernal is there on the ground.

So, Camila, are firefighters making any progress today?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn and Victor.

Some progress. We're contained by 10 percent. So there's still a lot of work to be done, and these flames are moving really quickly. Part of the reason is because of the ongoing drought here in the state of California.

You can see the evidence of the drought just by looking around and seeing how dry it is. You can also see exactly where the flames came into this property. And even though we have made some progress in terms of containment, the reality is that the fire continues to grow.

On Saturday, it was 14,000 acres burned, on Sunday, 15,000, and now close to 17,000. There are many under those evacuation orders. And it's for a reason. A lot of people are going to return, and, unfortunately, some will return to a scene that looks like this. It is destruction.

You can still see some of the hot spots in this property. You see the cars that were burned by this fire. All throughout the day, we heard some of the trees that were burned just collapsing. And that is why authorities say it is dangerous and people need to listen to those evacuation orders.

Here's how a Cal Fire battalion chief described those flames. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JON HEGGIE, BATTALION CHIEF, CAL FIRE: The fire behavior that we're seeing on this incident is really unprecedented. It's moving extremely fast. And the reaction time to get people out is limited, because that fire is moving so fast.

So we're doing our best to notify them and working with our cooperators And law enforcement to get those evacuation notices out. But the reality is, it's moving so quickly, it's not giving people a lot of time. And they sometimes are just going to have to evacuate with the shirts on their back.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BERNAL: And they're doing everything they can to prevent more properties, more houses looking like this.

You hear the helicopters in the air. We have seen them dropping that fire retardant, many, many airplanes throughout the day. But yet it has been really difficult. There are more resources. We started on Saturday with about 400 people working on this fire. More than 2,500 are now here.

So they believe the extra resources, the temperatures that cool at night and during the early morning hours, that should also help with the containment here. But the reality is and the bottom line is that there's still a lot of work to be done here -- Alisyn, Victor.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Camila Bernal, those images are just incredible that she was showing on the other side of the screen, so upsetting.

Thank you very much for the report.

BLACKWELL: A shooting at a busy Dallas airport forced travelers to take cover and air traffic control to order a full ground stop. We will tell you what happened there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:15]

CAMEROTA: Authorities in Dallas shot a woman who opened fire inside Dallas Love Field Airport.

CNN senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is on the scene with details.

Ed, tell us what happened.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as we know, the airport here at Dallas Love Field still on a ground stop.

But investigators continue to work the crime scene here, where police -- Dallas police here say that, about 11:00 this morning, a woman was dropped off at the airport, walked into the terminal, which is the area you see behind the glass windows behind me.

That is the ticket counter area for the check-in at the airlines, that the woman, according to the police chief, walked into a bathroom, changed clothes, perhaps put on some type of hoodie, then emerged from the bathroom.

And the police chief picks it up from there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE GARCIA, DALLAS, TEXAS, POLICE CHIEF: Produces a handgun and begins firing.