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US Core Inflation Hits New 40-Year High; Investigating Trump; Capitol Insurrection Investigation; Deep Cuts; Historic Verdict. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:31]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

This just into CNN concerning new data this morning as the US looks to combat rising inflation. Consumer prices rising 0.4% in September, 8.2% year over year. Now that's higher than many experts had predicted. CNN's Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans joins me now to walk through these numbers.

Christine, these are figures that every American feels every time they go to the grocery store or to the gas station. Why does it remain so stubbornly high?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, and that is the big question. The Fed has been raising interest rates now for months and these numbers are still near 40-year highs. And when you dig inside these numbers, and this is what everyone's really paying close attention to this morning, Bianna. When you strip out food and energy that core inflation, annual core inflation 6.6%, that is the highest since 1982. So that is a fresh 40-year high for core inflation. And month over month core inflation 0.6% that matches what we saw in August.

Overall inflation, you can see on a line chart how it's off the worst levels that we've seen earlier this year, maybe showing signs of turning or peaking. That's what everybody wants to know. But what you are feeling year over year. Gasoline prices up more than 18% from last year, food prices still up 11% and shelter. You know, shelter prices have been rising, and this is the part of the economy that you can't quickly change. You can go to different store brands or you can shop differently. It switch out your cuts of meat, right, if you're a shopper for your grocery bill. It's much more difficult when you're talking about your housing costs.

Now, these rising prices have been so punishing for so long. The cost of living adjustment for Social Security recipients last year -- next year, we just found out will be 8.7%. So the 70 million people who receive a Social Security check or those sorts of benefits starting in January will have about $146 on average more a month to try to compensate for this high inflation, Bianna GOLODRYGA: Yes, these figures all but guarantee and other rate hike by the Fed. We'll be speaking to White House folks in the next hour on these new numbers. Christine Romans, thank you so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

GOLODRYGA: We're also following several other major stories this morning. Hours from now, the January 6 Select Committee expected to unveil new evidence supporting its message that former President Donald Trump is still a danger to democracy. What to expect in its final hearing before the midterms.

Plus, new developments in the Mar-a-Lago search. A Trump employee tells FBI officials that he was directed to move boxes into the former president's residence after a subpoena was issued for classified documents. What does that mean for the DOJ's criminal investigation? All our team of experts is standing by to bring you the very latest and break this all down.

CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray is on Capitol Hill. So, Sara, the January 6 Committee holding their final hearing before the midterms later today, what do we expect to see in here?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible) you said we expect him to still drive home this message ahead of the midterms that Trump remains a clear and present danger to democracy. We're not expecting live witnesses at this hearing, but we do believe that there is going to be new evidence. You know, over the summer they interviewed a number of members of Trump's cabinet. They got over a million communications from US Secret Service. We expect to see some of those emails.

And you know what, the Cabinet members are people who are very high profile, people in the Trump administration. We're talking about Mike Pompeo, Steve Mnuchin, Elaine Chao, who was someone who resigned after what happened on January 6. We've also heard from members that they want to try to highlight the ties between the former president's sort of circle of advisers as well as domestic extremist groups. Here's what Jamie Raskin said about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): If the inner circle includes the three people that he pardoned between the election in November and January 6, Flynn, Stone and Bannon, I call them the Flintstones, then absolutely, there is abundant evidence that we are going to present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: So, look, there's a lot of ground the committee wants to cover today, a lot of new evidence that they want to spotlight, both video evidence as well as communications from the US Secret Service. And we should also note that we learned from the US Secret Service official that there was some communication between Secret Service and Oathkeepers ahead of January 6. They said it was part of their standard intelligence and response duties. [09:05:09]

So it'll be interesting to see what the committee is able to bring to light today, their last hearing for the midterms

GOLODRYGA: And they received more than a million communications from the Secret Service alone. Sara Murray, thank you.

Well now to those new details in the Mar-a-Lago investigation. Sources say Trump employee told the FBI that Trump directed boxes to be moved out of the basement storage room and into Trump's residence at Mar-a- Lago, CNN Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz joins us now with this.

So, Katelyn, this happened after the former president's legal team received a subpoena for any classified documents at the Florida estate, potentially very damning here. What more are you learning?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Right. Well, Bianna, let's walk through this. So source familiar is telling Pamela Brown about a witness' description to the FBI. And that witness was telling the FBI that Donald Trump gave instructions to move boxes out of the basement storage room at Mar-a-Lago and into the residence at Mar-a-Lago.

As you mentioned, when this happened was important. It came after the subpoena from the Justice Department demanding to Donald Trump and his team that all of the boxes should be returned. The other thing that's important here is that the Justice Department, remember, is investigating obstruction of justice. They've already told us in a court filing that what happened to those boxes, the boxes potentially being moved was salient to them. They wrote, the government developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the storage room and the efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation.

Prosecutors have also said in court filings that they believe those boxes that may have been returned were not -- or that may have been removed, were not returned to them. So all of these pieces are coming together, and another new detail, Bianna, about this reporting from Pamela Brown is that, the person who spoke to the FBI first denied that they were handling sensitive documents. But then after the Justice Department got a hold of surveillance tapes of Mar-a-Lago around that storage room, the person revised their story. So a lot of new details here.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Just reminder, we don't know what was on that surveillance tape. Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

Well, joining me to discuss is Elliot Williams, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the Justice Department, CNN Senior Political Analyst Kirsten Powers, and former US Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer. Welcome all of you, a lot to break down.

Elliot, let's begin with you. The latest news there that we just covered, and that is a former Trump employee said that he had been advised and ordered by the former president to move a box after the subpoena was already served. How damaging could this potentially be for the former president?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Three words, obstruction of justice. And it's literally, you know --

GOLODRYGA: That's part of the investigation.

WILLIAMS: That's part of the investigation. And, you know what, Bianna, look, I've been on with you a thousand times about this. I'm usually pretty cautious about these things. No, this is pretty clear evidence, assuming it's true, of obstruction of justice. If an individual is aware of an investigation, and then conceals, or hides, or tempers or destroys evidence as a means of getting around that, that's obstruction of justice, both for the person who directed them to do it and the person who did it.

Now, my guess is that this employee maybe is cutting a deal to not be charged themselves with obstruction. But no, this is -- it's pretty solid evidence assuming it's true with the caveat.

GOLODRYGA: And do you make of the fact that he initially denied this until he was reminded that he was actually caught -- the surveillance video showing him doing just that?

WILLIAMS: It's amazing what the thought of being federally prosecuted will do to a man or woman's sense of self, right? And I think, yes, they might have just gotten spooked and come clean.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But it's also I think, indication if they've lied about in the first place that there's something fishy going on, right? Like why would you lie about that? If it was just some random boxes that didn't matter, why would you go out of your way to who to lie? So this was -- it suggests some sort of premeditated behavior here that's being covered up.

GOLODRYGA: So this is something that happened in the past, right, and these, regarding these documents, and the National Archives. We're now going to be hearing from the January 6 Committee today about the January 6 insurrection. And what this committee is trying to emphasize that the former president, not only his role that day, but that he remains a threat to this country. Let me play sound from Sarah Matthews, the former deputy White House press secretary under President Trump. Here's what she said to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER TRUMP DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He had every opportunity to call off the mob and condemn the violence. We've seen from tape testimony from several of my colleagues that folks were pleading with him to do that. And he didn't ever pick up the phone once. And I think that the January 6 Committee has laid that out. But further more than just January 6, he's continued to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him with zero evidence of that. And I think that that does pose a threat to our democracy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So not only does he continue to push that lie, but other candidates that he's supporting are doing the same. What are you expecting to hear from the committee today? What will you be looking for well?

[09:10:00]

POWERS: Well, I mean, they are trying to also get into his sort of state of mind and we're supposed to hear more about what's happened with the Secret Service. And I think, you know, there was this famous incident where he wanted to go up to the Capitol, and he was overruled by the Secret Service. And some people have said, well, what authority do they really have to do that?

But the point is, there's really nobody I can think of in history who has ever question when the Secret Service tells them that you're in danger. I mean, we've all seen in the movies where they run in and they grabbed the president like a football, and run out with them. You know, and Dick Cheney has talked about it on 911, how they grabbed him. And he could have technically overruled him, nobody ever does that.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

POWERS: And so, what does that say about this person and what other things are we going to learn about his interactions with the Secret Service? This is going to shine light on his state of mind and, you know, what he was thinking and what he was doing on that day.

GOLODRYGA: And, Terrence, you say these million pages of documents that the committee has from the Secret Service could actually be a smoking gun for this investigation. Explain how.

TERRANCE GAINER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They have a tremendous job to do so they have to bring us up-to-date as to what we've learned over the past months. And then tie in this new evidence that will give pretty plain, as Elliott mentioned, pretty plain indication of who was doing wrong, who was derelict in their duty, who had a duty to intervene and did not. That needs to be spelled out to the public so they understand that.

GOLODRYGA: And that leads us to the question of will the public be even watching today, right? I mean, they clearly have so much on their plate, they've got an economy, new data, shows more concern about inflation, and the fact that it does not remain -- it remains too high and it's not going down as quickly as we would like. There's a midterm election coming up. How much do Americans really care at this point about these hearings?

POWERS: I think that this -- I think the fact that this probably isn't going to factor into the midterm elections that much is a statement on just how polarized the country is. Because if you look at what has come out in these hearings, it's insane, right? And under normal circumstances, most people would be looking at this and thinking, oh my gosh, we can't have anybody who's even remotely associated with this person in office. And yet, we see some of his candidates, even highly problematic candidates that he supported.

Possibly, you know, in very tight racism possibly may win. And so, you know, I think it's because basically, we've just gotten to a point where everybody is just staked out in their positions, and there's very few persuadable voters.

WILLIAMS: The former Attorney General William --

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: I'm sorry. Terrance, go ahead. We'll come back to you.

WILLIAMS: Sure.

GAINER: No. I was just going to say I have actually more faith that there are a lot of people in the middle who are looking for some facts. And the fact that we see, whether it's podcast or Dahmer, 50 million people looking at that historical stuff, they can look right now and help decide which way America and democracy is going to go. So, shame on them if you're not taking time to do that, but that's why it's incumbent upon this committee to lay out the facts today, but they ought to go on record saying we think there ought to be indictments.

Now, I know that's a decision of the Bureau of Justice but they are our elected officials. They are bipartisan. There's Republicans and Democrats, tell us how you feel, what is your opinion, and then the rest of us can make a decision.

GOLODRYGA: Well, they can refer this to the DOJ. Do you think ultimately, Elliot, they will?

WILLIAMS: Well, look, they can. It sounds like they're probably going to. At the end of the day, it just doesn't matter. The Justice Department doesn't have to follow any recommendation from Congress. But at a certain point, they've clearly been building toward that. It would be hard to see why they didn't. Just tie it together with Terrance's point and Kirsten's point, the former attorney general of the United States, William Barr, testified before Congress that he thought that the former president was, I believe the word to use, delusional.

In any other moment in American history, that moment would have been seismic. But just, you know, to your point, Kirsten, it's -- we're inundated with a flood of news right now and I think the public is just so used to this, but it's madness, the kinds of things (inaudible).

GOLODRYGA: And Bill Barr, one of the officials --

GAINER: Bianna, I think -- I'm sorry. I think it does matter. I think it does matter, that these people, this committee, who's heard from so many people of involvement in this thing, it should matter and does matter to the public that we know where they stand now. Let's not leave it to guessing, let's not leave it to some time after the election. The impact of the election of Trump and what went on after that is still playing out and will play out in the next 30 days. It does matter.

POWERS: But I think we're talking about two different things. It absolutely does matter and this work is very important and they need to be doing that. The question of whether people will factor it in and it will be one of the top reasons that they're voting is a different question, and it's not going to be a top reason that they're voting.

[09:15:05]

Are there some people who are going to have been moved or in the middle that might think this really solidifies something for them? Sure, absolutely. But whether it impacts the election or not, that doesn't affect whether it matters. It absolutely matters. This is extremely important work, and it should matter.

GOLODRYGA: And it is important to note that most of their witnesses have been Republicans, right?

POWERS: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And we're going to hear more, not from lived testimony or witnesses but from taped interviews with former cabinet officials.

POWERS: Yes, exactly.

GOLODRYGA: We'll be covering all of this here for you at CNN. Until then, Elliot Williams, Kirsten Powers, Terrance Gainer, always great to have you on we appreciate your time.

And as we mentioned, join CNN for live coverage as the January 6 Hearings Room Zoom with new witnesses and evidence. That's today at 12:00 PM Eastern.

And still to come, President Biden says it's time to rethink our relationship with Saudi Arabia over its decision to slash oil production. Today, Democrats have a new bill that would do just that by stopping arms sales to the Middle East nation. Is the President willing to sign it, though? We'll talk to Senator Richard Blumenthal behind the legislation up next.

Plus, more on that key inflation measure out this morning. What's the impact that you're going to feel at home? And he's been ordered to pay the Sandy Hook families he's tormented more than $1 billion, but will they see a dime? We've learned that Alex Jones will appeal the massive verdict against him.

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[09:20:35]

GOLODRYGA: Today, Saudi Arabia again defending its decision to slash oil production. It says the move to dramatically cut output by 2 million barrels per day was not politically motivated against the US. But President Biden says it's now time to rethink America's relationship with the Middle Eastern nation. Now this comes as lawmakers are pressing forward with a possible punishment, introducing a bill to suspend all arm sales to Saudi Arabia for the next year.

One of those senators, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, joins us now. He currently serves on the Judiciary and Armed Services Committee. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. So, you and Congressman Ro Khanna introduced this bicameral bill yesterday. It would include suspending military supplies, sales and other weapon aid to Saudi Arabia, the lead importer, we should note, of US made weapons. Have you heard anything from the administration suggesting that they would support this bill?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The President has said very clearly and commendably that we need to rebalance our relationship, or at least rethink it. And there have got to be consequences for this action.

Humongous blunder by the Saudis, that is against their own self- interest, as well as the threat to the global economy, the danger of rising oil prices to American consumers at the pump. And of course, most importantly, from the standpoint of Ukraine, it helps the Russians, it harms Americans. And I think that the administration, more than any of us, is well aware of these practical consequences.

GOLODRYGA: Not withstanding the rash reaction and action of MBS, I'm just curious if you've played this through and possibly thought about the implications that this may serve as a benefit, an unintended benefit for nations like Iran.

BLUMENTHAL: You know, I think that point is very failure and it ought to be a catalyst for our rethinking this whole relationship with Saudi Arabia. We have transferred technology to the Saudis in massive amounts, highly sensitive arms that we would never want to fall into the hands of the Russians, who now apparently are good friends with the Saudis, if not allies, and the THAAD and Patriot missile systems. the air defense platforms, radar, jet fighters, all of this highly sensitive technology and intellectual property going to the Saudis is really unprecedented in our relationships with other countries that we regard as allies. But the Saudis appear to be no longer really allies. And I think that that's a factor to be considered.

GOLODRYGA: With this phrase also applied to UAE because there have been reports that the UAE and other OPEC Plus members, including even Iraq, had been against this move to slash production but had been out voted on that front. We supply them with billions of dollars in aid as well, are they included in this?

BLUMENTHAL: They are not included in this legislation. But obviously, the relationship with the Saudis to other nations in the region is a consideration.

GOLODRYGA: You reached out I know two Republican colleagues who have been quite muted in terms of what a response would look like. You say they have been "receptive but non-committal and favorable in their remarks." Why are they non committal to this bill? BLUMENTHAL: I think the focus practically speaking is on the elections that are just weeks away. I think that when we come back in November, my Republican colleagues as well as Democrats are going to be very receptive, judging my conversations with them, to the idea that there has to be consequences. And suspension in arms sales is a good way to go about it.

The Saudis need to come to their senses and they are aligned against Iran, but that interest alone is not a reason to continue these arms sales. There are other ways to push back and oppose, and stop Iran, for example, from acquiring nuclear weapon.

[09:25:07]

GOLODRYGA: Well, if you say politics may be involved in why the Republicans have thus far been non-committal, given that we're just weeks away from the midterms, I'm curious to get your reaction in response as to why when Republican Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation last year to halt the sale of $650 million of missiles to Saudi Arabia, very few Democrats supported that legislation. You did not support that legislation. In retrospect, was that a mistake? Was he right?

BLUMENTHAL: I think Paul amendment was in a different context with a different set of circumstances.

GOLODRYGA: But it's the same actors, right? You're dealing with the Saudis.

BLUMENTHAL: I think what's important now is to view the total relationship. And that's what the President certainly is going to be doing. A single amendment is not the answer nor, by the way, is this legislation the total answer. It's a very targeted, calibrated, limited, sensible approach to making this audience come to their senses. And it has limited objectives in that sense, but rebalancing and rethinking the entire relationship ought to be the objective.

GOLODRYGA: Senator, I'd like to switch gears and bring it a bit closer to home for you. And that is what we heard from a Connecticut jury yesterday deciding to award eight families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and one first responder nearly $1 billion against Alex Jones. He, of course, is fighting this and going to appeal and was even fundraising off of it.

I'm just curious, for you, these are your citizens, this was your state. This is something the nation, obviously, mourn with you all about. But it hits close to home for you. What is your response to this? How did you feel when you heard the jury come back?

BLUMENTHAL: This jury verdict is very well justified. I know these families and I know personally what they had been through, which is absolutely heartbreaking. In the worst way, it's gut wrenching what Alex Jones did by way of his distortion and lies. And the families have been so strong and courageous, and championing gun violence prevention. We're reminded just this morning, with the death of two Bristol police officers. And my thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families, that gun violence is still very much with us.

And what Alex Jones did to these families and causing the harassment and deep pain, like to offend all of us. And certainly it offended the jury rightly, and the appeal that he's taking I think will be unsuccessful.

GOLODRYGA: Senator Richard Blumenthal, our thoughts, obviously, are all with those families. We appreciate your time today. Thank you.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And up next, is President Biden just weeks away from becoming a lame duck? We have brand new CNN polling ahead of the November midterms. We'll tell you how voters are leaning up next.

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