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Sources Say, Pompeo, Trump Ally Mastriano Appear Before January 6 Committee Today; Biden Speaks About Bill to Increase U.S. Chip Manufacturing; Biden Signs Bipartisan Chips and Science Act. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 09, 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]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Today, the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol is going to be hearing, questioning two key figures.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Sources tell CNN former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is going to meet with that panel today. Also meeting with them, Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, he was also a key figure in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Let's bring in our Political Correspondent Sara Murray, and let's start with Pompeo and why this testimony is important right now at this moment in their investigation.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, you know, obviously, he was a critical figure in the Trump administration. He led the CIA. He went on to lead the State Department. But what the committee has been really interested in when it comes to these former cabinet members is what they can glean about the discussions that were going on about the 25th Amendment, about efforts to essentially try to get Donald Trump out of office. And there's been a lot of wrangling going on on both sides on Pompeo's side and on the committee's side in order to make this appearance happen. So, you know, it is significant that they have finally reached an agreement for him to appear before the committee today.

You know, the other person is Doug Mastriano. He's a Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania. He worked behind the scenes to try to push Donald Trump's election fraud claims with the Justice Department. He publicly bussed people to the Capitol on January 6th. You know, we don't believe that he is going to be a very helpful witness. In fact, by now, his appearance could already be over. You know, people in his camp made it pretty clear that they could not reach an agreement with the committee about some of the logistics surrounding his virtual appearance today.

MARQUARDT: And, Sara, we have another story that's colliding really with this January 6th investigation. The committee now, we understand, is in possession of those text messages from Alex Jones. Those were part of the lawsuit that was brought against him by parents of a Sandy Hook victim. So, how do you think those text messages are going to play a role in this January 6th investigation?

MURRAY: Well, you know, I think one thing it shows you is just how wide the committee has been going and the information they've searched for to ask for these to seek out these messages that the attorney for the Sandy Hook parents handed over to the committee.

The one thing that's the X factor here is that the timing on the text messages is a little bit murky. We were told yesterday that the most recent text message from this Alex Jones tranche came in mid-2020. So, that potentially could be before your really get anything that's really juicy that the committee really wanted to know about Alex Jones' efforts to sort of advertise the January 6th march on the Capitol and, you know, his various activities around that day.

But a source did say, you know, that there are a lot of texts between Alex Jones and Trump allies, so that may end up being of some interest to the committee.

HARLOW: Fascinating. Sara Murray, thanks very much.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, any moment now, President Biden is going to be speaking to really celebrate the passing of the bipartisan Chips and Science Act. Now, it's designed to boost manufacturing of semiconductor chips which are found in, of course, so many of the products that we use in our everyday life. And we'll be bringing President Biden's comments to you live as soon as he begins. Stay with us.

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[10:35:00]

HARLOW: All right. Let's listen to President Biden about to sign the Chips and Science Act. Here's the president.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm sure it's making some really hot vehicles. They even got a Hummer that can go 41 to 260 (ph). That's faster than my corvette, and my corvette is older than I am almost. But what I've realized is that my corvette is now worth a hell of a lot more when I bought it. I got it original $5,700. They tell me it's worth a lot of money, but I know if I ever sell it, Beau will come down in heaven and smite me down. But, anyway -- and, by the way, that new corvette, this electric corvette, I got a commitment that I don't think I'm going to be able to enforce that I get to buy the first one because it's going to be out before I'm out of office.

So, but at any rate, look, folks, Chuck, you've done a hell of a job. You really have. You really have. And Speaker Pelosi, you always get it done. You always get it done. Come hell or high water, you get it done. And I want to thank Secretary Raimondo. And, Josh, thank you for the introduction. Josh loves electric cars. He graduated from Syracuse. He's my kind of guy. What more do you need? Syracuse and electric cars. Look, this bill that I'm about to sign into law, in my view, represents what I've always believed, America is the only nation in the world, and I believe this with every fiber of my being, the only nation in the world that can be defined, as I've told Xi Jinping several years ago, by a single word. He asked me to define America for him when I was in China.

[10:40:01]

And he and I were alone in a Tibetan Plateau. I said I can do it in one word, and I mean it, possibilities.

In America everything is possible. We believe every and anything is possible. It's part of the soul of this country. I mean, it really is. We can channel all our resources. Most of all, we can channel the full talents of all our people into a greater measure of hope and opportunity for our nation and for the world. To create good jobs, empower workers, grow the economy, not just for the wealthy but grow for everyone, to change the course of human health and disease, to tackle climate crisis with innovation and jobs, to lead the world, this is not hyperbole. Lead the world and future industries and protect our national security. We've always gotten -- we haven't always gotten it right, but we've never walked away from that sense of possibility that drives this country, never.

Now, it matters today, I think, more than anything in a very, long, long time. You're tired of hearing me say this, those who work with me so closely, but that's because we face an inflection point in our nation and around the world. Fundamental change is taking place today, politically, economically, and technologically, change that can either strengthen our sense of control and security, of dignity and pride in our lives and our nation or change that weakens us so that people are left behind causing them to question whether or not the very institutions, our economy, our democracy itself can still deliver for them, for everybody.

This is the moment we face. I really mean this. I believe with every fiber of my being. We hear all the noise out there. We know there are those who focus more on seeking power and securing the future -- excuse me, and securing the future, those who seek division instead of strength and unity, who tear down rather than build up. Today is the day for builders. Today, America is delivering, delivering.

And I, honest to God, believe that 50, 75, 100 years from now from people who will look back on this week, they'll know that we met this moment. Today, I'm signing the law, the Chips and Science Act, a once in a generation investment in America itself, a law that the American people can be proud of.

I call for elements of this law when I first came to office. I want to thank everyone, everyone here who helped make it possible. Vice President Harris and the second gentleman, members of the cabinet and the White House team, members of the United States Congress of both parties, the majority leader, Senators Cantwell, Young, Portman, I don't want to get you in trouble, but you did a hell of a job. By the way, he's a good man. That's a different story. That just probably cost him. I apologize. All kidding aside, thank you. Thank you, thank you. And along with Senators Cornyn and Wicker helped keep this bill on track from beginning to end.

In the House, I thank Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and Representative Eddie Bernice, God love you, you're sitting there, you're ready, you did it all, you move. Frank Pallone. I keep reminding Frank he's from New Jersey, but Delaware owns the high watermark and the shore of New Jersey. We had a court case about that. I just want you to know that. Mike McCaul, Doris Matsui and the man who holds the seat I used to hold, Chris Coons.

Look, so many other Democrats and Republicans alike are committed to getting this bill done. And while the bipartisanship in Congress is critical, I also want to acknowledge something else. Look at the people here today. You come from all different backgrounds to support this bill. Governors, like the governor of Illinois who I see, legislators, mayors, state legislatures, entrepreneurs, business people, labor, they're the reason why we're here. They're the reason why we got this far. Scientists, technologists, engineers, physicians, presidents of four-year and community colleges both, civil rights leaders, national security leaders, government officials.

I met with many of you through this process, so many of you have spent years and years calling for key investments that are made in this bill. For years, you've been calling for it. You helped make it happen. You represent why. We are better positioned than any other nation in the world to win the economic competition of the 21st century. You're the reason why I'm so optimistic about the future of our country.

[10:45:00]

You know, the Chips and Science Act supercharged our effort to make semiconductors here in America, excuse me, those tiny computer chips, smaller than a fingertip, that are the building blocks for our modern economy powering everything, from smart phones to dishwashers to automobiles. In fact, there are as many as 3,000 semiconductors per vehicle made today, 3,000 per vehicle.

America invented the semiconductors. They power NASA's mission to the moon. Federal research and development brought down the cost of making them and build a market and an entire industry. As a result, over 30 years ago, America had 40 percent of the global production of these chips, and then something happened. American manufacturing, the backbone of our economy, was hollowed out. We let semiconductor manufacturing go overseas, and as a result today, we barely produced 10 percent of the semiconductors, excuse me, despite being the leader in chip design as well as research.

And as we saw during the pandemic, factories that make these chips shutdown, the global economy comes to a screeching halt, driving up costs for families and everyone, not just here but around the world. One-third of the core inflation last year was due to the higher price for automobiles, for automobiles shortage of semiconductors.

Folks, we need to make these chips here in America to bring down everyday costs and create jobs. Don't take my word for it. Listen to some of the business leaders here today and across the country. They're making decisions right now about where to invest and ramp up production for these semiconductors.

Many are foreigners making investments, companies making, deciding where in the world to go and have chosen the United States of America. They look at China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, all making historic investments of billions of dollars to attract the businesses to their countries to produce these chips.

But these industry leaders also see America is back and leading the way. During my state of the union, I described the field of dreams on 1,000 acres outside of Columbus, Ohio, where America's future will be built. Intel, from CEOs here today, Pat Gelsinger is here, he's going to break ground on the next semiconductor factory in Central Ohio early this fall.

American company Micron is announcing today that because of this law, it's going to invest $40 billion over ten years to build factories and special chips called memory chips that store information on your smart phone. Investment, this investment alone is going to create 40,000 jobs, excuse me, I'm sorry, and increased market share, memory chips by 500 percent.

Two more American companies -- I'm going to take another sip of water. Two other companies, GlobalFoundries and Qualcomm, announced yesterday a $4 billion partnership to produce chips in the U.S. that would otherwise have gone overseas. Qualcomm is one of the world's largest buyers of chips, is planning to increase its chip production up to 50 percent over the next five years. These companies see what I see, that the future of the chip industry is going to be made in America.

For folks at home there was a broader supply chain that makes these semiconductors that connect countless other small businesses and manufacturers. This law funds the entire semiconductor supply chain for research and development to key inputs, like polished silicon manufactured by a factory in Hemlock, New York. Nearly one-third of all the chips in the world use polysilicon made in Hemlock.

Imagine if you had more of these kinds of factories across the country, this law will make that a reality. There's an analysis that says investment in the Chips and Science Act will create 1 million -- more than 1 million construction jobs alone over the next six years, building semiconductor factories in America. America invented semiconductor has been mentioned already. And this law brings it back home. It's in our economic interests and it's in our national security interests to do so.

Early this year, I went down to Lockheed's factory in Alabama where they're making the Javelin missiles that we're supplying Ukraine to defend themselves against Putin's unprovoked war.

[10:50:10]

It's crystal clear we need these semiconductors not only for those Javelin missiles but also for weapons systems of the future that are going to be even more reliant on advanced chips. Unfortunately, we produced 0 percent of these advanced chips now. And China's trying to move way ahead of us in manufacturing these sophisticated chips as well. It's no wonder the Chinese Communist Party actively lobbied U.S. businesses against this bill. The United States must lead the world in the production of these advanced chips. This law will do exactly that.

And to be clear, this law is not handing out blank checks to companies. Today, I'm ordering my administration to be laser-focused on the guardrails that will protect taxpayers. It means making sure that companies partner with community colleges and technical schools that offer training and apprenticeship programs and work with small and minority-owned businesses. They'll have the power to take back any federal funding if the companies don't meet these commitments required by the bill.

This includes requirements that companies building these semiconductor facilities pay Davis Bacon Prevailing Wage, to ensure the tens of thousands of new construction jobs are union jobs, will not allow companies to use these funds to buy back stock or issue dividends.

And, finally, this bill is about more than chips. It's about science as well. Decades ago, we used to invest 2 percent of our GDP and led the world in everything. We led the world in everything from internet to the GPS. Today, we invest less than 1 percent. We used to rank number one in the world in research and development. Now, we rank number nine. China was number eight decades ago. Now, they are number two. And other countries are closing in fast.

This law gets moving up once again. It authorizes funding to boost our research and development funding, closer to 1 percent of the GDP, the fastest single year percentage increase in 70 years, and it's going to make a difference.

This increased research and development funding is going to ensure the United States leads the world in the industries of the future, from quantum compute computing to artificial intelligence, to advanced biotechnology, kinds of investments that will deliver vaccines for cancer cures, for HIV, invent the next big thing that hasn't even been imagined yet, a law that requires that any company that receives federal research development will have to make that technology they're inventing here in America. That means we'll invest in America and invent in America and make it in America.

We're going to make sure we include all of America, supporting entrepreneurs in technological hubs across America including Historic Black Colleges and Universities, minority-serving institutions, travel colleges. We're going to tap into our greatest competitive advantage, our diverse and talented workforce, urban, rural, suburban and tribal.

And people like Josh came up with this idea for portable electric car chargers five years ago in Buffalo, New York, and all the young people out there today who have an idea that sparked imagination, to solve a problem they see, to cure a disease they have, to dream to make the impossible possible. This law is for them.

Let me close with this. Last month, I awarded Steve Jobs the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. At every turn in his life, he dared to think differently, embodied that most of American questions, what next. The Chips and Science Act is going to inspire a whole new generation of Americans to answer that question, what next.

Right now, as Bill can tell you, NASA has a mission going back to the moon and then to mars, the sun and beyond capturing, capturing images of distant galaxies we can only once dream existed and we can never think we can see. The Chips and Science Act captures that magic here on Earth.

It also builds on the progress we made to rebuild America, with the historic infrastructure law that I signed last year that's going to modernize our roads, our bridges, and deliver clean water, high speed internet for every American.

It builds on another one of my many top priorities, creation of advanced research project agency and health or health. It's going to transform how we detect, treat, cure diseases, like Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer.

[10:55:04]

And tomorrow, I'm signing the most significant law ever to help veterans suffered from exposure to toxins from burn pits.

And soon, I hope to be signing Inflation Reduction Act into law that's going to lower the cost of health care and energy and make historic investments to tackle climate crisis. Once that law is signed, any senior by the first of the year, no matter how high their -- if they're on Medicare, no matter how high their drug bills are, will never have to pay more than $2,000 a year, just one specific example, beginning in January. There's a lot that's going to happen.

And for all the division of our country, we're showing the world that we can take on the biggest challenges. We can take on the special interests and our democracy can deliver for the people of this country. That's why I'm confident that decades from now, people are going to look back at this week with all we've passed and all we've moved on, that we met the moment at this inflection point in history, a moment when we bet on ourselves, believed in ourselves and recaptured the story, the spirit and the soul of this nation.

We are the United States of America, a singular place of possibilities. I'm now going to go sign the Chips and Science Act, and, once again, I promise you we're leading the world again for the next decades. Thank you.

HARLOW: President Biden just about to sign the CHIPS Act, as we bring in our colleague, White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond.

It was interesting. It was -- he was obviously excited to tout this bipartisan win. But this bill, Jeremy, does not come without critics who say this is a $52 billion bill that is largely subsidizing big, profitable companies, like Intel, et cetera, but it comes with a lot of strings attached, right? They get this money to build an America and not in China and elsewhere, but it comes with strings attached, claw-backs, et cetera. And -- go ahead.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And you heard President Biden touting the billions of dollars of new investments from U.S. companies that will be investing in U.S. production of semiconductors. And the president today, and we've heard this from White House officials over the last several weeks, they have touted this bill not only as about economic security but also about national security.

This is not just about the -- forgive me. There was an attempt to ask the president some questions there, but I don't think he's going to be answering them. But, again, this is not just about economics for the United States, it's also about national security. The U.S. gets about three quarters of their key semiconductors from outside the United States right now.

And that presents a challenge, when you think about the use of these semiconductor chips, not just in cars, for example, and in other key electronics, but also in weapon systems, including those made by Lockheed Martin whose CEO was in attendance today. And President Biden mentioned his visit to a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama and all the importance of those semiconductor chips for that company and that industry as well.

But the president broadly saying that he believes that future generations will look back on this bill, a $280 billion bill with $52 billion to incentivize semiconductor chip production, and he believes those future generations will say that his administration and the Congress, the bipartisan Congress that passed this bill, will look back on this and say that they met this moment. Poppy?

MARQUARDT: Yes. And, Jeremy, this was very much a bipartisan effort. President Biden there saying that he doesn't want to get Republican members of Congress in trouble, but he did name them, most notably Senator Portman from Ohio and Senator Young from Indiana.

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right, the president kind of tongue in cheek there saying that praise from a Democratic president might not help those Republicans in their states, but, certainly, the president, and we heard this also from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as the speaker of House, Nancy Pelosi, touting the fact that this was a bipartisan achievement.

And we heard Secretary Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, who was instrumental in getting this bill passed, talk about the fact that this was a signal to the world that America can get things done in a democracy, including in a highly partisan environment when it comes to important national security and economic security aspects, like the semiconductor chips bill.

HARLOW: That's right. And whether you like or not how this was done, right, and this is big government very much involved in the private sector now for decades to come,

[11:00:01] America needed -- needs to advance very, very much on this front for economic reasons, and as you said, Jeremy, for national security reasons.