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Biden Warns of Armageddon Risk as Putin's Nuke Threats Grow; Interview with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about September Jobs Report; Senate Races in Arizona and Nevada Tighten According to New Poll. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:21]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is the top of the hour. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Poppy Harlow. Jim has the day off.

And overnight a stark warning, President Biden out with a chilling assessment of the dangers behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats. This as Moscow faces new military setbacks in Ukraine.

Plus, off the force. A Uvalde school district officer is fired after a CNN reporter identified her as one of the troopers under investigation for her response in this massacre.

And an economic slowdown, the U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in September. That did beat economist expectations. It is (INAUDIBLE) a cooling labor market which could actually be a plus for the fight on inflation. We'll talk about why. But let's start this hour with more on the president's chilling warning on the increasingly disturbing nuclear threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president last night saying, quote, "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. I don't think there is any such thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon."

Let's begin this hour with our correspondent Jeremy Diamond. He joins us at the White House. Also our senior international security correspondent Alex Marquardt following all of this.

Jeremy, let me just begin with you. Not expected by the White House, I think those around the president that he would say this, and he said it at a fundraiser. So not on camera here in New York. But reporters were there and I think stunned to hear what the president said.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was a very stark warning from the president of the United States. Perhaps one of the most stark warnings that we've heard so far about this elevated risk which is real and for which there is real concern within the administration about the prospect of the Russian president deciding to use a tactical nuclear weapon in his war with Ukraine. What's important to note, though, and something that U.S. officials

are stressing to me and my colleagues this morning is that there has been no change and no new U.S. assessments about Russia's nuclear posture or about the Russian president's intentions that prompted the president to make these remarks. One senior administration official telling me that the president was simply speaking, quote, "frankly" about this heightened concern inside of the administration.

And the president frankly just giving us a window into some of those concerns. And he also laid out the extent to which he is concerned about Putin being cornered and what Putin would do if indeed he was cornered.

Let me read you a part of his remarks from last night where he says, quote, "We are trying to figure out what is Putin's off-ramp. Where does he find a way out. He's not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is you might say significantly underperforming."

And so, ultimately, where things stand now is that the U.S., according to officials, has not adjusted its nuclear posture following these comments. The assessments still stands in terms of Russia not having made any moves that the U.S. has detected. But it is the latest time that we've seen the president in these kinds of fundraisers settings where he is speaking off the cuff, really giving us a little bit of a window, a little bit more candor into his thinking and into his administration's thinking. But again, no U.S. assessment that Putin has decided to use a nuclear weapon but certainly some heightened concern.

HARLOW: And Alex, as we mentioned, I mean, the White House surprised by this. I wonder how National Security officials are reacting this morning here in the U.S.?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what everyone realizes is really how seriously the administration now is taking this nuclear saber rattling. But as Jeremy noted, there has been no change in the assessment. What we've been hearing from U.S. officials until now is that the risk of Putin, they believe, of using a nuclear weapon is low. But at the same time it is the highest that it has been in years.

And these are certainly the farthest comments that we've heard from any government official in terms of the Russian nuclear threat. So, yes, it is clear that the administration believe that's there is a more elevated chance but as Jeremy noted, that assessment certainly hasn't changed. One senior U.S. official telling our colleague Jeff Zeleny that they were surprised and that these comments caught the administration officials off guard.

Now, we have to remember, Poppy, that way back in February when this war started, President Putin put his nuclear forces on a state of high alert. So there has been this nuclear threat throughout this conflict. It is certainly higher now because of where we are seven months into this conflict. Russia doing far worse than they expected, certainly on their back foot. We've now seen this mass mobilization of some 300,000 Russian reservists.

[10:05:01]

We've already seen Russians on the front lines with just one or two weeks training. This just really speaks to the weakness of those Russian forces. They are being beat back. They are -- the Ukrainians are certainly on the offensive. And so what Russia has in their back pocket, and always has, is nuclear weapons. And we should be clear, what we're talking about here are tactical nuclear weapons. So those are much smaller than the strategic nuclear weapons.

We're talking about a nuke that can be fired from artillery or from rocket launchers. That is not to diminish it because you heard President Biden there saying that this could lead to a nuclear Armageddon. So the Biden administration is trying to make clear there would be serious, serious ramifications if they were to use these weapons -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Alex Marquardt, thank you. And Jeremy Diamond at the White House, appreciate the reporting this morning.

And now to the U.S. economy, new data just out this morning shows the labor market is holding strong in the face of real concerns about potential economic downturn. The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5 percent. This marks the second straight month of cooling job growth as the Fed works to tame inflation.

Let's talk about all of this with the Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

Mr. Secretary, good morning and thanks for the time.

MARTY WALSH, LABOR SECRETARY: Thank you for having me today.

HARLOW: So, I wonder if the Biden administration is happy to see the labor market cooling a bit relatively speaking compared to the last 12 months because the Fed needs that actually. They need slower job growth to get a handle on this inflation.

WALSH: Well, yes, I'm not sure -- well, maybe people are defining this as cooling. I'm looking at it as a time where we've had incredible job growth in the last year. This year we still have good job growth. We've added about 440,000 jobs per month if you do an average. Certainly this report, 263 is a good strong report. There is still the opportunity to get more people back to work.

I think that what we're doing is we're adjusting to what would be somewhat of a pre-pandemic normal time eventually because we're not going to be able to keep putting up 600,000, 700,000, 800,000 job numbers per month. There's just not enough people for that. But within this report I mean we're seeing the healthcare sector fully recover. We're seeing gains in the manufacturing sector which is great.

And we saw the job participation rate, it dipped a little bit, you know. But it was high last month. So we're just going to keep an eye on that as we continue to move forward here as we get more people engaged in the economy.

HARLOW: I think you make -- you're pointing something out that's really important and that's the irony of all of this, right. Like you as the Labor secretary, most Americans, you want to have more people employed, right. That's a sign of a good economy. But with inflation as high as it is now, the Federal Reserve needs the job market to cool, right? And it is cooling from the average of 510,000 jobs added a month in the last 12 months. And wage growth, although it is up 5 percent, it's been cooling over recent months.

Both things that the average American wouldn't necessarily want but this economy needs to get a handle on inflation. So I suppose I'm asking, is the Biden administration happy to see those things happening vis-a-vis the war on inflation?

WALSH: Well, certainly I think that, you know, the plans that the president put out there to tackle inflation in a lot of cases are working. We're seeing it come down incrementally. We'd like to see it come down more than that. Certainly the supply chain issue added a big concern to the inflation numbers. Obviously gas, what OPEC has done now is disappointing certainly to the president and to us.

And -- but also just points out that we need to be less reliant on foreign energy. We need to continue to move forward. You know, some of the -- the things that the Fed have done certainly you add what the Fed is doing, what Treasury is doing, what we're doing as an administration collectively together, hopefully we'll continue to see these inflationary pressures come down where we don't go into recession.

You know, I'd like to -- I mean, I personally, you know, when you say recession, you can't compare this moment in time to any other period in the past when we were talking about recessions because we're coming off a worldwide catastrophe and a global pandemic. So the pressures are different. And you know, we're not the only country in the world obviously dealing with this. European countries are dealing with this as well.

HARLOW: No. I think that's another important point that you make. This is -- you can't compare this to anything else but the reality is sort of where Americans end up now for their economy and for their families. And you know, you say inflation is coming down. We're still at 8 percent inflation. You still got core inflation going up and I just wonder if you have faith that the Federal Reserve could get a handle on this inflation without putting too many Americans out of work?

WALSH: Well, I'm hoping that all of the policies and procedures whether it is the Fed or the administration or the Department of Labor, my role, my job is to try to get as many people into work as possible. Get them into better paying jobs and into middle class jobs and continue to hopefully work with businesses and labor to increase wages over time and benefits. Certainly I know that that's what I'm focused on, and other folks have focused on different parts of this.

[10:10:05] And I think that the good part about this, this is an all of government approach. You know, the president filed passed legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, that we won't see the impacts of that right away. The CHIPS bill is another one. We won't see the benefits of that right away, but long term those are going to help the American economy moving forward and hopefully prevent some of the inflationary pressure we're feeling today down the road.

HARLOW: I do want to ask you because you mentioned OPEC and this OPEC decision to slash two million barrels a day of oil in production is going to drive gas prices higher and there is very little at this point that the administration can really do about that. On top of, you know, people are going to watch their gas get more expensive, the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Mary Daly told me this just a few days ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY DALY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO: We need to recognize is that people already are suffering. They're suffering from the toll, the indignity of high inflation. They earn their living. They go to the store and they can't afford the things they could afford last month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What do you say to Americans right now, Secretary Walsh, who at this point may be losing confidence that the Biden administration can make this economy work for them when three out of four Americans say the economy is either not so good or poor.

WALSH: Well, certainly when it comes to energy and what we're dealing with gas, I mean, that certainly was not created by this administration. We're dealing with a war in Ukraine that you guys reported on every day which is very sad and unfortunate. You're talking about the decisions OPEC has made which is very disappointing as well. And I think what it does is for too long America has been too dependent on foreign energy and I think that the president has made it very clear in the Inflation Reduction Act to be less dependent on foreign energy supplies whether it's oil or gas as we move forward here.

We need to continue to do that. We're seeing more production to deal with the issue immediately. We're seeing our refineries ramping up more production here in the United States of America to bring the cost down for American people at the gas pump. But for 13 state weeks we saw a reduction because of President Biden's policies and decisions. We saw gas prices coming down.

You clearly -- OPEC caught the administration by surprise and the decision they made yesterday so we're readjusting now to deal with the decisions that they've made.

HARLOW: OK. We're out of time. I will just say part of the refinery issues is what's been driving prices up especially in the Midwest and on the West Coast, and others would argue that this administration could do a whole lot more to -- that would open the door for more oil production here in the United States.

That's a conversation for another member of the Biden administration and we'll have it with them. I know you're focused on --

WALSH: No. True. But --

HARLOW: On jobs.

WALSH: Real quickly.

HARLOW: Yes.

WALSH: Real quickly. If the last administration made investments in refineries we wouldn't be where we are today.

HARLOW: Secretary Walsh, thanks for your time this morning.

We are just over a month away from the midterm elections. Up next, the fiery Senate debate in the battle ground state of Arizona. Candidates going head-to-head over key issues, immigration, abortion and election security.

Plus growing frustration in Florida as people wait in long lines for essentials and for help from FEMA. Why some hard-hit communities this morning are feeling ignored.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fort Myers Beach, McGregor Boulevard, Marco Island, nothing about Harlem Heights. So we felt -- definitely felt left out.

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HARLOW: We'll bring you more of their voices ahead. And later new data on the fight against breast cancer. What it shows about the healthcare gaps that persist between white and black women in America.

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[10:18:01]

HARLOW: Right now new CNN polling shows key Senate races in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada pretty neck in neck. And then last night's debate in Phoenix the Trump backed Republican nominee Blake Masters squared off against the Democrat Mark Kelly. Moderator asked Masters if he stood by past comments of his that Joe Biden was not elected fair and square. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Joe Biden the legitimately elected president of the United States?

BLAKE MASTERS (R), ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE: Joe Biden is absolutely the president. I mean, my gosh, have you seen the gas prices lately?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Legitimately elected --

MASTERS: I'm not trying to trick you. He's duly sworn and certified. He's the legitimate president. He's in the White House and unfortunately for all of us, I suspect President Trump would be in the White House today if big tech and big media and the FBI didn't work together to put the thumb on the scale to get Joe Biden in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But not vote counting, not election results?

MASTERS: Yes, I haven't seen evidence of that.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D), ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE: These are conspiracies and lies that have no place in our democracy. You know, I'm worried about what's going to happen here, you know, this election and 2024. I mean, we could wind up in a situation where the wheels come off of our democracy and it's because of folks like Blake Masters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's talk about this and many more of these midterm headlines. CNN chief political correspondent and co-anchor of "STATE OF THE UNION" Dana Bash and CNN political commentator SE Cupp.

Good to have you both here. SE, let me begin with you. As a Republican, Blake Masters clearly said, quote, "I think Trump won in 2020." That was in a campaign ad last year. Now pressed by a very apt moderator, I should note, he had to actually answer the question for what he thinks now in the general. What do you make of all of it?

SE CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it was a great answer. I mean, if I'm -- if I'm a Republican, and you look at the number one issue for most voters, it's the economy, that could have been what Republicans were running on from the beginning to say, yes, he's the president and we shouldn't be happy about that or have you seen gas prices.

[10:20:06]

I mean, I think that's an appealing message to Republicans. But unfortunately, Blake Masters had to run through election denialism to get there. To get the nomination and that's where a lot of Republican candidates felt, you know, they had to go and it's so bad and deleterious and dangerous that someone like Liz Cheney who is to the right of right said she would vote for a Democrat if she were a voter in Arizona right now. That's how bad it is.

HARLOW: Go ahead, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, it used to be, before 2020, that the sort of playbook on both sides was to run to the right or the left of your party during the primaries and then make your way back towards the middle for the general election. Especially when you're in a purple state like Arizona.

For the Republican now, just like SE was saying, unfortunately the playbook, if you want to get the support of the Trump base and of the man himself, you have to run towards the lies in the primary and then run back towards reality and truth in the general election.

HARLOW: You know, Dana, just to this point, I mean, I think it's interesting, you look Mark Kelly has a narrow lead over Blake Masters right now in Arizona. It's pretty neck-and-neck when you look at the Senate race between Republican Adam Laxalt and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, and this CNN polling shows Republican voters are much more motivated to turn out to vote just in general. 62 percent of Republican voters versus 52 percent of Democrats say they're motivated.

I mean, we know what history tells us about how the president's party does generally in a midterm. But is that all that's going on here or is there something more?

BASH: It's not just history and the sort of historical desire for a check on whomever is in the White House during the first midterm of his first term. But it is also what you have been talking about all morning, with the jobs report being great, yes, but. But all of the other economic issues that go along with it. There is a, to quote a one-term Democratic president, a malaise that is out there.

And that is what our polls have shown in some of these key states, Nevada and Arizona. People just don't feel good because inflation is high, because there is so much discord and discontent in this country and that's a big part of what you're describing.

HARLOW: I want to turn the corner since I have this opportunity to have two brilliant women on with me. SE, to have you both -- I'll start with you, SE, just talk about, Dana Has been doing a lot of reporting on these races and a number of races with all female candidates. And I just wonder if you could speak to that given this election and what so many voters are focused on. SE first then Dana.

CUPP: Well, Dana has done some great reporting on this and it really is remarkable just how many women are running against other women in this race. And I think there's a few things going on. One, historically when that has happened, it's been as a reaction against Republicans. If you look back at 1992, 2018, you had a lot of women running as Democratic candidates. You're seeing that be the case this year as well.

A lot of Republicans running but more -- significantly more Democrat women are running for office. And, you know, I think that is a reaction to Roe, the overturning of Roe and some other things that Republicans are doing that feel regressive to women and other minority groups. But you add to that on the other side, I think a lot of women are drawn into politics now through the schools issue.

We saw that in the Glenn Youngkin election. That issue is really sort of still percolating and driving women into politics. But I think if you have to pin me down and ask me to predict why this is happening now, I honestly would say I think people find Congress so dysfunctional that all these women are running in governor races. I think that's the most interesting part of this.

HARLOW: That's such a good point.

CUPP: They sort of bypass it. The House and the Senate was completely dysfunctional, they don't think they can get anything down there. And going right to the statehouses. I think that's the most interesting part of the story.

HARLOW: Dana.

BASH: Yes. I think that's actually a really good point. I was thinking about this, Poppy, as we were preparing to come on and it is remarkable as SE said, but what has been as remarkable to me is how unremarkable it has been as I've gone into Michigan to cover that governor's race, woman against woman, or in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, that is a place where you have two women running against each other or on "STATE OF THE UNION" I had the two female candidates for Senate from Washington state. It was kind of a nonissue that they were both women, whereas it wasn't that long ago that it would have been a really big deal that you had this all-female race. That's good thing.

[10:25:09]

HARLOW: I'll never forget when former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked when will there be enough women on the Supreme Court, remember the answer?

BASH: Nine.

HARLOW: When there are nine. When it's not remarkable because there have been nine men for a very long time. Thank you both. Have a good weekend.

BASH: Thanks, Poppy. And congrats.

HARLOW: Oh, thanks. Going to get a new alarm clock.

All right. Next, exclusive CNN reporting gets results in Uvalde, Texas. The action the school district is now taking against an officer they hired despite her being under investigation for her actions during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary. We'll have that ahead.

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