Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Liz Truss Named U.K.'s Next Prime Minister, Replacing Boris Johnson; Trump Escalates Attacks on DOJ, FBI, Biden at Weekend Rally; Growing Concern Over U.S. Student's Falling Test Scores. Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired September 05, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:01]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Truss will be the U.K.'s fourth prime minister in just six years, and its third female prime minister.

Here she is thanking Boris Johnson following that vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ TRUSS, U.K. PRIME MINISTER-ELECT: Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn. You rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A bit of a pause there, waiting for the applause. Truss takes over tomorrow. The leadership change comes, of course, as Britain is facing a dire economic road ahead, including a severe cost of living crisis triggered by soaring energy bills and a looming recession.

Let me give you a sneak peek now of the new CNN film featuring five combat camerawomen. They have risked their lives to bring you such important stories, some of the biggest headlines from around the world. The new CNN film, No Ordinary Life, the camerawomen who brought the war to headlines, is premiering. But we want to give first of behind-the-scenes look at how they made their mark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being a camerawoman is a tough job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were sent out on these stories. They were very dangerous. We got right in the middle of it.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Focusing on the very human aspects of these conflicts, whether it's war or famine. Storytelling changed and women were at the forefront of that movement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're it. You're the one that's going to see it and you're the one that's going to record it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This from a bullet casing. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to be twice as good and twice as fast just to be on the equal playing ground as a guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were breaking grounds and barriers and conceptions about women in the field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The camerawomen who brought the frontlines to the headlines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were combat camerawomen. We would come back with the goods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No Ordinary Life, Monday, September 5th at 10:00 only on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some e people just aren't cut out for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

HILL: As of now, we are still waiting for that decision from a Florida judge on whether to grant former President Donald Trump's request for a third party to review the documents taken from the Mar- a-Lago search. While we wait, Trump out there stumping for GOP candidates this weekend, although seemed to be perhaps a bit more focused on his own grievances, attacking the Justice Department and the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters controlled by radical left scoundrels, lawyers and the media who tell them what to do -- you people right there -- and when to do it.

They are trying to silence me and more importantly they are trying to silence you, but we will not be silenced, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Trump went on to call President Joe Biden an enemy of the state.

Joining me now, Elie Honig, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. So, Elie, good morning, my friend, nice to see you.

In response to some of those comments, Zoe Lofgren of California, who is also, of course, a member of the January 6th committee, weighed in on the former president's continued attacks. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): In the lead up to January 6th, there were extravagant claims made meant to inflame public opinion, and that is what is happening here, although I think it's meant to turn people against law enforcement officers. And we've seen that sometimes that rhetoric reaches people who are prepared to act on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So, what she went on say is that she believes -- she gave the example of a man in Ohio, right, who was killed when he tried to attack the FBI agents there. She's saying these continued attacks could amount to incitement. Is there real, legal concern when it comes to the words of the former president? Could he be putting himself, you know, at risk legally?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Erica, for the comments that we just heard, no, I don't think that's going to amount to legal incitement. You have to show, really, more direct exhortation to violence. A person does have any First Amendment right to criticize and question whether it's DOJ, FBI, local law enforcement, that's all fine. But the president's rhetoric here, I do think we have to call it out. It is wildly inappropriate. I believe it is dangerous.

The language that he used is so overheated, it's so over the top and it's just utterly unsupported by reality or by facts, I mean, the notion that DOJ or the FBI overstepped when it executed this search warrant. I mean, the FBI and DOJ could not have possibly have given him more rope, have given him more time to turn over the documents, they gave him over a year. And the notion that the media somehow tells FBI what to do is just completely delusional.

So, I don't think it's illegal. I don't think the former president committed a crime right there, but I do think it's fair to call out his comments as dangerous and irresponsible.

HILL: Absolutely. And I would say they are also sort of, you know, well worn from a playbook that we've all heard several times before trying to point the finger across the board.

It's interesting when you talk about what the DOJ went through, right, because that -- so much of that was laid out in the affidavit that we saw once it was released. And it was interesting to me that we heard even Friday afternoon, after we got this list, the detailed inventory of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago, former Attorney General Bill Barr was weighing, as he was saying, look, the DOJ did everything right.

[10:40:09]

They played by the book. Of course, they are getting frustrated. That really stood out to me.

I mean, you wrote a whole book about Bill Barr, as we know, but the fact that we're hearing such direct language from Bill Barr, what is the impact?

HONIG: Yes, Erica. Well, my book, of course, to be clear, is very critical of Bill Barr. And I think we have to keep in mind that during his tenure as attorney general, Bill Barr was a wildly dishonest operator. He covered up for Donald Trump. He cheer-leaded some of Donald Trump's political talking points and conspiracy theories. So, you take that same person and now we see what he's saying and I think it really makes his comments resonate even more strongly. This is a Trump longtime partisan and loyalist.

But let's also remember Bill Barr has had experience as attorney general, twice. He's actually one of two people ever who served as A.G. twice, once in the early '90s under George H.W. Bush and, of course, now under Donald Trump. So, he is able to understand the position that DOJ was in here. He understands that DOJ got dragged out and slow-played for over a year, that they tried to subpoena, they still didn't get all the document, and I think Bill Barr is able to put himself back in that seat at DOJ and say, what would any rational person have done? You have to go with a search warrant. There was no other option.

HILL: It's interesting. As we wait for this decision from the judge in Florida, I was talking about this to someone else on Friday night as to whether if, in fact, a special master is granted, could there be special programmers? Because there's talk of, well, you won't likely hear much from the DOJ starting September 10th because that's the 60- day run-up to the November midterms. The former president isn't on the ballot but has, of course, endorsed candidates. There's a chance that a special master could come out perhaps with findings during that time or could at least be more communicative. Do you think that's something that could potentially be restricted if, in fact, the judge grants that request?

HONIG: For sure, Erica, yes. I think if the judge does grant a special master request, then I believe she will put parameters on it in two respects. One, I think she will say, special master, you are reviewing for the following, maybe attorney/client privilege only, maybe executive privilege only, maybe only those two privileges. But I don't think the judge is going to let this become just a free-for-all.

The second thing is I think the judge is going to put strict time parameters on this. I think she should. One of the things DOJ said in its brief is, Judge, we don't want a special master, but if you appoint one, let's make sure that the work gets done really by the end of September.

If there's a special master, Erica, it's important to understand it's a win for Trump, it's something he asked for. He wants to have his potential privileges protected, but it's also, by no means, dispositive on this case. It will be a detour, but it will not determine ultimately whether anyone gets charged or, of course, whether a any charge results in a conviction.

HILL: Elie Honig, always good to see you. Thank you.

HONIG: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Still ahead here, the test results are in, and they are awful. The pandemic negative effect on students' math and reading scores is clear. Our next guest was part of that research joining us with some insight into what could help to get students back on track. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

HILL: As you know, an updated COVID vaccine booster shot is now available. The surgeon general calling it a, quote, landmark moment. This is the first time the vaccine formula has been reworked, has evolved, specifically targets the omicron subvariants. Anyone 12 and older who has already received their first set of shots is now eligible for this booster.

Joining me now with more, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen. She's an emergency physician and ta former Baltimore City health commissioner. Dr. Wen, always great to see you.

So, when we -- we hear about this, right? So now it's available to everyone 12 and up. Should everyone 12 and up be getting this new reformulated booster?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, I think that it is a very good thing that we have this reformulated booster. This was always something that we anticipated. It's something that's done for the flu vaccine every year to predict the new emerging variants, new emerging strains that there is an updated booster. And I think that this could actually be the path forward in the future that perhaps we get an updated booster for the COVID vaccine every year in the same way that we have an updated flu vaccine.

Now, as to who should get it immediately, it is individuals who are 50 and old we are chronic medical illnesses, individuals who have not yet gotten any vaccine this year. They should absolutely go ahead and get that reformulated booster as soon as possible. I'd say that individuals who could probably wait a bit are those who just had COVID. So, if you just recovered from COVID, you could probably wait about three months or so because re-infection within that same time period is very low.

HILL: What about kids under 12? They are not eligible for this new omicron-targeting booster. Are they at a greater risk now?

WEN: Well, we know that children in general are much less likely to suffer from severe illness compared to older individuals. The other thing too is that the vast majority of children have already had COVID, and so if kids are vaccinated and they have recovered from the coronavirus, they are pretty well protected, especially against severe illness. So, I would say, at some point, I'm sure that this reformulated booster is also going to be made available for younger children, but at this point, I would not worry about kids under the age of 12, although if they have not yet been vaccinated at all, they should go ahead and get the vaccine, even if they have already recovered from the coronavirus.

[10:50:10]

HILL: Also I want to the ask you about flu season because Dr. Fauci last week was saying it's going to be a pretty bad flu season in his estimation based on what we're seeing in the southern hemisphere and that flu shots, everyone should get their flu shots now. Is there any concern that COVID-related vaccine hesitancy has trickled into hesitancy when it comes to the flu vaccine?

WEN: I really hope not because I agree that we could be in for a bad flu season because we virtually saw no flu last year and so there's pretty low baseline immunity. I really hope that there hasn't been backlash against all vaccinations, including routine childhood immunizations because of the COVID vaccine. Actually, I hope for the opposite. I really hope that there will be a push this year for maybe a combined flu and coronavirus vaccine push in the sense then that you could get both the flu and coronavirus vaccine at the same time.

And so I hope that that's the message that will come through, that these are both contagious illnesses to which there are vaccines available that will help to reduce your likelihood of severe illness. And so get both the coronavirus vaccine and the flu vaccine, especially coming into what could be a bad flu season this year.

HILL: Dr. Leana Wen, always great see you. Thank you.

WEN: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: There is added concern this morning about the impact of the pandemic when it comes to education. Recently released national test results showed the 2022 test scores for nine-year-olds fell an alarming five points in reading and seven points in math. That's compared to early 2020 before lockdowns began, of course, before school went remote in the U.S. Why is that a big deal? Well, it's also the largest drop in 30 years.

Peggy Carr is commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics and joins us now. I have to say headline alone when I saw this was really alarming and just gave me pause. In the simplest terms, when we look at the education, the learning loss here, was closing schools for so long a mistake?

PEGGY CARR, COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS: Well, you know, I don't know if it was a lot of choice. The health experts were telling us to close the schools and the districts and the states had to do what was best for the children.

What I think we need to focus on now is moving forward. There's a lot of learning that has to take place and not just during the day. After school, extended daytime, we need to do what is necessary to move forward.

HILL: So, some of the greatest losses, and this also stood out to me, were among kid who were already behind or struggling. This was an issue before the pandemic, that COVID really seemed to fast track what is frankly a widening gap in this country. You mentioned more time on learning. Is that the solution? Is it a longer school day? Is it more staffing because those are also challenges now?

CARR: All of the above, Erica. I think we have to have more time on learning and whatever way we can get it done. But it's more than that. We also need to focus on the whole child. There's a lot of evidence that students are struggling in terms of mental health. Their behaviors in schools are more concerning than before. There's a lot to be done on the social, emotional learning component of this problem.

HILL: I was actually having that exact same conversation with a friend last night at dinner about the struggles in high school right now and the increase in the need for mental health services. Can you talk to us about -- we look at the study, right, and it's about nine- year-olds. Why is that such an important age when it comes to learning, that baseline learning, in terms of what it means for later on in life?

CARR: Well, you know, these nine-year-olds are developing are problem-solving skills. And one of the things that we were most concerned about is the drop in that level of knowledge and skills for these students.

We were there just before COVID was declared a pandemic right before school closures. We went back to 92 percent of the schools, and the students were struggling more with problem-solving. It is the gateway to more advanced data analysis skills that students will need, problem-solving skills that students will need as they enter into the higher elementary grades.

HILL: So, as we look at this, there's the one piece of, okay, how do we work to reverse this learning loss, how do we better serve our children across this country, pandemic or not. There's also the question of, you know, God forbid it should happen again, but if there's a future outbreak, if there is some sort of a pandemic situation, is there a way to do things differently?

CARR: Well, you know, we've already done a lot. The schools pivoted. They did a lot of changes in how they were administering instruction to the students that I think we're going to learn from.

[10:55:06]

We had more devices in the hands of students than we had before. Teachers have gotten more staff development in how to impart instruction if something like this, God forbid, will happen again. I think that we are in a better place than we were before the pandemic, that's for sure.

HILL: Yes. Well, it's so important though to continue to raise this issue because it is not going away, and, again, there are so many kids who need this recognized so that they can get exactly what they need and what they deserve.

Peggy Carr, great to have you with us this morning. Thank you.

CARR: Thank you.

HILL: And thank you all for joining us today. I'm Erica Hill.

Stay tuned. Boris Sanchez picks up our coverage after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]