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Biden Touts Infrastructure Spending In Pennsylvania; Judge Orders Ex-Trump Lawyer To Release More Email To House; Liz Truss Resigns After 6 Week Tenure As British Prime Minister; Pentagon Confirms Iranian Personnel On Ground In Crimea To Train Russians On Drones. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 20, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Top of a new hour here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Victor Blackwell. It's good to be with you.

President Biden is in Pennsylvania again giving remarks against the backdrop of a crumbling bridge now undergoing repairs. The President said it's just one of the examples of how his administration has improved aging infrastructure across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The result: Pennsylvania has been able to repair Fern Hollow Bridge in less than a year. And by Christmas, God willing, we'll be walking - I'm coming back to walk over this sucker. Although my staff said to me, "Do you realize how many times you've been to Pittsburgh?" I said, "No." He said, "Nineteen." Bobby, don't tell them in Scranton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The President is now heading to Philadelphia for private campaign event with John Fetterman, who is locked in one of the nation's most contentious midterm races.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent, Phil Mattingly, is at the White House, CNN Congressional Correspondent Jessica Dean is in Philadelphia.

All right. Phil, you're up first. You reported that Biden's schedule of events this week really underscores how they're triaging their message around the economy, explain.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. If you look through kind of the course of the day by day schedule of the President, which seems maybe kind of boring or rather benign, it's actually a really good roadmap of what White House officials and their Democratic campaign counterparts are looking at right now.

There is a reality, the President's approval rating remains low. There are avenues where Democrats feel like they have an opportunity to boost Democratic turnabout - turnout, boost Democratic enthusiasm. You saw that with the President really trying to elevate the focus on abortion rights earlier this week. You'll see that again on Friday, when the President really has his first major effort to highlight the student loan cancellation executive order he put into place as well.

When it comes to the economy, you've seen them take the approach of pointing to kind of small rallies, not massive campaign rallies, but pointing to things that underscore the very real legislative achievements they have. Today, as you noted, the infrastructure bill showing up at that bridge that actually collapsed right before Biden arrived in Pennsylvania in January, you've seen events related to infrastructure, related to their major semiconductor manufacturing legislation as well, kind of across the board.

They're not huge. They're not thousands of people, but they're really focusing on what has been delivered and then a somewhat small scale. But you also heard, and this is interesting on these visits, while they may not be major campaign rallies, Victor, you do have opportunities to catch the President as soon as off the record stop. Stopping at a standard sandwich shop with John Fetterman, with Bob Casey, with the Governor as well.

And the reporters threw some questions at him and he raised another concern about what might happen if Republicans went. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried about (inaudible) ...

BIDEN: I'm not worried about that, because they said they'll (inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, do you have any plans to go to Nevada or Georgia in the coming weeks?

BIDEN: Pardon me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To Nevada or Georgia?

BIDEN: (Inaudible) the Congressman asked me (inaudible) be able to go down in Nevada and Georgia had asked me to come down. I - we're trying to work it out now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to go next week.

BIDEN: I don't ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So there's really two pieces there. The Ukraine aid has become a really big issue over the course of the last several days. It's no secret that dozens of Republicans have voted against that aid over the course of the last several months. But Punchbowl News reporting potential next House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy raising questions about future aid as well, that has raised serious concern inside the White House and across Washington.

And then in terms of the schedule, it's not - it's pretty obvious the President hasn't gone to a lot of battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada noted there seem to indicate he's had invitations and may be going there soon. We'll have to see if that actually happens, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We'll stand by for those. Phil, thank you.

Jessica, to you now. Some Democrats as we heard a bit of the questioning there at the sandwich shop about invitations to the President, some are distancing themselves from the President. How is John Fetterman handling this?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we certainly are seeing John Fetterman with the President all day long. In fact, the source is telling me that he will fly on Air Force One with the president from Pittsburgh here to Philadelphia later today and this represents an opportunity for Fetterman to really present himself to voters as how he would look as a senator.

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We see him in a suit, which is not usually noteworthy when it comes to Senate candidates, but for John Fetterman, it is. He's typically in shorts and a hoodie, that's his signature look. He is in a suit today traveling with some of the Pennsylvania delegation and then along with the President.

And look, they are coming to Philadelphia. That's not surprising. During the 2020 election, Victor, we came here with then-candidate Biden over and over and over again. It is a state that really clinched him the 2020 election. They know this and this is an ever tightening Senate race. And Pennsylvania, once again, really going to hold Biden's political fortunes in terms of what he's going to be able to do over the next two years, because it is very likely that this race will determine who controls the U.S. Senate.

And again, the Fetterman folks know that and there has been a lot of talk about his stroke and his recovery from the stroke, that certainly has been covered widely. It has been something that has spread all over online. But here on the ground, we have been talking with voters all over the state for the last several weeks and really when it comes down to it, they are focused on three key issues that we hear again, and again and again. And that is the economy, its crime, its abortion rights.

And so what the Democrats really need to do is really turn up the score, run up the score here in Philadelphia, of course, a Democratic stronghold. So they want to get as high of numbers out of here as possible. And then in the last couple days, we've really been around what's the so called collar counties, they're just the counties that suburban counties that surround Philadelphia, and they're some of the most independent voters, they can really sway an election.

And so we are seeing Fetterman going to these areas, really trying to target that. And again, this is a place where the President remains relatively popular. It is a Democratic stronghold here in the city of Philadelphia, so not surprising that we see him here today. But of course, Victor, as we continue to see this race is incredibly tight. And we're seeing the closing messages kind of beginning to take form. We're seeing the Republican challenger Mehmet Oz just releasing an ad talking about moderation, being a political moderate, how he wants to be a political moderate when he goes to the Senate. And, of course, we're seeing John Fetterman closing arguments about abortion rights, especially in this area and, again, those surrounding suburban areas, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jessica Dean, the Oz-Fetterman debate just a few days away. Phil Mattingly at the White House, thank you, too.

All right. A federal judge says that Donald Trump knew his voter fraud claims were wrong but continued to push them not only to the public, but also to the court. Now this was in a ruling ordered - ordering Trump's ex-attorney, John Eastman, to turn over more emails to the House Committee investigating the January 6 siege on the Capitol.

CNN Senior Crime & Justice Reporter, Katelyn Polantz, is with us now. So the one-six committee, of course, will be interested in this judge's ruling. He said that John Eastman's emails show evidence of a crime potentially, what do you know?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Victor, this is really a monumental ruling in a lot of ways from a federal judge sitting in California who has gone through, essentially, the evidence that the House Select Committee has wanted to obtain for many months now and that other investigators, including the Justice Department, may also be interested in obtaining. And what's so monumental about this is that the judge spells out emails that he has seen eight emails in particular that he believes could speak to evidence of a crime and believes that those should be released to the House Select Committee made public.

John Eastman, Donald Trump's elections attorney should not be able to keep those confidential any longer.

So what the judge writes here is he's saying that these eight emails they speak to two different possible crimes. One email regarding a part of a case that was going in Georgia that the Trump lawyers were filing, looking at potentially taking it to the Supreme Court. He writes this email read in context with other documents in this review, make clear that President Trump filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief, but to disrupt or delay the January 6th Congressional proceedings through the courts.

The court finds that these four documents are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of the obstruction crime and Judge David O. Carter there not only highlights obstruction as a possible crime that these emails could support, but also believes that these could support a case of fraud.

BLACKWELL: All right. We're also getting this just in to CNN that the former President Donald Trump is preparing for that expected subpoena from the January 6 Committee, what are you learning about that?

POLANTZ: Right. So we have a new lawyer added to Donald Trump's legal team. My colleague Gabby Orr was just able to confirm that the lawyer is Harmeet Dhillon. This is a prominent Republican lawyer out of California and a lawyer who's very well known to the House Select Committee already.

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She is going to be one of the people that is handling this subpoena that is expected to be issued to Donald Trump for testimony before that committee, before they end, potentially, their tenure with the turnover of Congress. And why Dhillon is so known to them is because she and her firm have done quite a lot of work already for other witnesses, including challenging House subpoenas.

We know that they have been in court working on behalf of Michael Flynn. We know they also are representing women for America First, that group that was behind the rally on The Ellipse on January 6, and have acknowledged working with the Justice Department or receiving a subpoena from the Justice Department as well. So this is just another person added to the constellation of lawyers around the former President right now, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Katelyn Polantz with the new reporting, thank you very much.

CNN Political Commentator Scott Jennings is a former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, CNN Political Analyst Natasha Alford is a Senior Correspondent at TheGrio and Harry Litman is the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Welcome to you all. We have a lot to get to. Let's start with you, Natasha, because you're right here with me.

And President Biden asked about these big rallies why he's not having them. We're seeing the first lady there in Florida, former President Obama, President Trump as well. His answer is, yes, I'll get there. Why aren't we seeing it?

NATASHA ALFORD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the President has to play the best hand he has right now and that role is to be a team player. We know that he has historically low approval ratings, no matter what he's done and so I think that he's able to emphasize the larger policy wins, infrastructure, things that are not controversial, bridge is not controversial, that benefits the red or the blue in America.

But at the same time, he understands that his name is a liability. We saw the Herschel Walker mentioning Joe Biden every two seconds in that debate with Raphael Warnock. So it makes sense for him to fundraise, focus on the larger accomplishments and then make promises about what would happen if Democrats can maintain power, codify abortion rights, create more jobs in the economy. That is what he is trying to do to keep that hope still alive.

BLACKWELL: Scott, we focus on what the President is not doing, but you think it would be a smart strategy for Donald Trump to go into Georgia right now or for Donald Trump to go into Pennsylvania and campaign for Oz when they're trying to get to a moderate center? We saw Herschel Walker shifting his views on exceptions to an abortion ban.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, it's remarkable, I think, in both of the states you mentioned, Victor. Both Biden and Trump, I think are probably underwater in terms of their overall image. So do I want Donald Trump to go and campaign in these states, it probably doesn't help, maybe it hurts among some people. Is the benefit big enough to ask for it? I would say probably not.

Now, his new super PAC is spending a little bit of money in some of these states, not a ton, but a little bit of money in some of these states. So I guess, finally, he's released some of the money that he's raised to help - so that's moderately helpful. But overall, it feels like the general wind is blowing in the Republicans' direction. And when that's happening, you don't want to do anything that could change that or get in the way of that. And you would have to ask yourself, is Trump - would Trump's presence there interrupt whatever momentum you might have. Same for Biden, if he goes in and makes a big rally splash in some state, there'll be a lot of people who hold him responsible for the economy that are reminded about why they may be switching back to Republicans this year.

BLACKWELL: Harry, on this reporting from Katelyn, the addition of Harmeet Dhillon to the president's - former president's legal team, as they prepare for this pending subpoena from the January 6 Committee, what do you see in here there?

HARRY LITMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's interesting, Victor. She's aggressive, but she has real chops in a way that a lot of the Trump lawyers don't necessarily. The latest report from CNN, in fact, was that Chris Kise, who was the last sort of eminent lawyer they brought on was sort of getting more purchase in his views to be somewhat conciliatory.

I don't think that and I have appeared with her both on CNN and Fox, I don't think that's her likely style. And in fact, it's interesting, because the time is going to run out on that subpoena very quickly when the Congress ends at the end of December. So it's - this suggests that maybe Trump would be fighting it, whereas if he just sort of were passive about it, nothing might happen.

So I think it's a noteworthy development and suggests more than, at least, we thought before he may be in a fighting mood.

BLACKWELL: Natasha, let me come to you on a really fascinating poll conducted by TheGrio and the Kaiser Family Foundation that found that 73 percent of black voters name inflation and economic issues as their top concerns ahead of the midterms. Now black voters obviously a core part of the democratic coalition but this poll went - survey went beyond just Democrats.

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Is this appearing to be enough to shift some Democrats to Republicans this cycle?

ALFORD: So it's very interesting, this is the first ever partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation that TheGrio did, so very important poll that we've done. I think what I found when I spoke with voters, I spoke with lifelong black conservative Republican, for example. And those images of January 6, just stick with them. They think about the violence. They think about the double standard that that day represented.

And so they have trouble with the relationship of the Republican Party to Donald Trump, even lifelong Republicans. And so I think that if you have those Republicans in that situation, I'm not sure that a bunch of black Democrats are going to be ready to make that switch, but they are saying what is next, right: What's next for the party? What's the new generation of leadership?

They match the rest of the country's polling in terms of saying: All right. We don't want the same nominee. Who else is up next? So yes, very interesting.

BLACKWELL: Scott, on this response of getting a lot of attention from the former Vice President on if he would vote for former President Trump in 2024. Let's play what he said.

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MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, there might be somebody else I'd prefer more. What I can tell you is I have every confidence that the Republican Party is going to sort out leadership. All my focus has been on the midterm elections and it'll stay that way for the next 20 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Depending on what you're listening for, he either said nothing or he said a lot. What do you hear?

JENNINGS: I heard a couple of things. Number one, I think Mike Pence wants to run for president and probably will. And so, of course, he wouldn't want to commit to Donald Trump or anyone else because he thinks he's going to be the best candidate. Number two, Donald Trump gets the mob at the capitol to murder Mike Pence and so - or at least they were chanting they wanted to hang him, so I can also understand why you might not want to support somebody whose supporters were most recently seen at the Capitol chanting hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence.

So look, I think he's running I don't know what lane exists for him. I think about half the Republicans want Trump and about half wants somebody else. The half that wants somebody else right now is pretty fragmented to see if this is the clear front runner on that side. But Mike Pence did his duty on January 6th. He's got a lifetime of service to the Republican Party. He's earned every right to run. I expect him to do that. I don't know how far he's going to get, but he's obviously a good man. And in that speech, Victor, he gave a forceful defense of conservative - conservatism and a bit of a denunciation of populism, which I think is a coming debate in the Republican Party.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We'll see where his space is in the party if Trump runs in 2024. Scott Jennings, Harry Litman, Natasha Alford, thank you.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

ALFORD: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Another British prime minister comes and goes, Liz Truss this time announces her resignation after 45 days on the job. So what now? That's next.

And the Pentagon now confirmed that Iranians have been on the ground in Ukraine to assist Russia with drone operations. What these developments could mean for the future of the war?

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BLACKWELL: Well, after just six weeks in office, U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ TRUSS, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, this follows a tumultuous few weeks of economic uncertainty and are now scrapped financial plans sent the pound to an all time low against the U.S. dollar. Joining us now CNN Chief International Anchor, Christiane Amanpour. Christiane, good to have you on this specifically that you have seen prime ministers come and go. But what may Truss' situation so different? There have been unpopular financial plans before but she's lasted six and a half weeks.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're right, Victor. Forty-five days precisely, which makes her the shortest living ever British Prime Minister. I mean, it is really a beggar's belief, because what happened is exactly how you laid it out, she provided this economic plan, just her and chancellor, it just didn't go through any of the road testing of the independent fiscal analyst or the like.

In fact, they said no, when they were offered a road test so to speak for the plan that they had cooked up. Then that just created a huge chaos abroad in the markets and in this country. Interest rates have had to go up to stabilize, and that affects U.S. mortgages, which is a very different situation to the U.S.

In the U.S. you have 15, 30-year mortgages at fixed rates. It's not the case here. They are variable or fixed, but only for very, very short time. So that in short, sent panic through ordinary people, and the pressure on politicians and from her party then became intolerable. And in the end, they just made it clear to her that she was not going to be able to survive in office, so that's what happened.

BLACKWELL: So what's this mean for conservatives there because polling shows that the Labour Party has pulled ahead a significant distance. Can her party survive this?

AMANPOUR: Well, again, that's a very interesting question. I mean, if there was an election today, no, and it's not just because of Truss, even under Boris Johnson, the Labour Party was moving ahead because of all the shenanigans under the Johnson administration and he was tossed out for a variety of misdoings including the famous partygate, sleaze and all those kinds of issues.

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And they are trailing very, very significantly.

However, because it is a parliamentary democracy, there is no rule that says the conservatives who are in power now with a parliamentary majority have to call an election. And as one of the Labour opposition people said, if they did, it's like Turkey is voting for Christmas.

So it is possible that if they choose a fairly competent, more moderate leader, that they could spend the next couple of years of their term trying to right the ship. Obviously, the Labour Party would love to have an election right now.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So you spoke with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan ...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: ... about this whole mess. What did he said?

AMANPOUR: Well, I put it to him, because he was actually joining me from Buenos Aires where he was joining a world summit of mayors and on the environmental issue, because mayors, as you know, have had to take up a huge amount of the burden on climate change, because many governments haven't got the right legislation in place, so local mayors are doing it.

And he was saying that he was being inundated by all his fellow mayors there, asking what on earth is going on in Britain at this time? Listen to what he told me.

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MAYOR SADIQ KHAN, LONDON: We are a laughingstock. Our reputation has been diminished every minute Liz Truss has stayed in office and people here this morning have been asking me what is going on in your country. On the one hand, you're showing global leadership for London. But on the other hand, your country is a laughingstock and there are mayors here from global south who says, we used to look upon the U.K. as providing certainty and calm, you have the mother of all parliaments. We look to you for moral leadership and we are a laughingstock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So you see, Victor, he just put his finger on it. I mean, keep calm and carry on, Britain has always stood for a certain stability, a certain conventional politics and now it's all been up ended. The French president Macron said, we just hope here in Europe for stability as soon as possible from the U.K. And you know the Biden administration is looking very carefully and with concern at the turmoil here because Britain was a key member of the transatlantic Alliance.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The mess there, the scope extends beyond the U.K. and to its allies around the world. Christiane Amanpour, always good to have you. Thank you.

AMANPOUR: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Last hour, Pentagon Press Secretary confirmed that Iranian military they are in Crimea and our training Russians to use their drones.

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BRIG. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, we do assess that Iranians have been on the ground in Ukraine to assist Russia with the drone operations there. And so in terms of what that means, obviously, again, we continue to see Iran be complicit in terms of exporting terror, not only in the Middle East region, but now also to Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, this confirms earlier CNN reporting that Iran is there, but this is the first time that we're learning that Iranian military is assisting Russia in using the weapons to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

John Kirby, the Communications Coordinator at the National Security Council, said that this signifies Iran's direct engagement with the conflict. Now, let's stay in Ukraine, the country's state energy supplier says that it's been forced to restrict power in Kyiv and in central regions, and it's because of increased consumption following Russia's devastating attacks on their equipment. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is now joining us from Kramatorsk. You and your team were recently caught in the middle of these attacks. Tell us what happened.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Victor. Yes, we're in one of the most active frontlines here in Ukraine in the east near a town called Bakhmut, which is really under constant shelling by Russian forces. And the Russians want to take this town so badly, Victor, that they've put some of their most brutal forces in command of the offenses that are going on - in that town. They're called the Wagner private military company, a lot of them battle hardened people. There's also airstrikes as well.

We managed to get into that town yesterday and literally came under fire after a couple of seconds of just being there. Here's what we witnessed.

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PLEITGEN: So we're taking cover here because we just had some incoming artillery fire. We're going to wait and hope that there's not - any hits anywhere close to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So that was just one of the shells that landed there. There were several other shells that landed nearby our position as well. And we were pinned down there I would say about 20 to 30 minutes before we were able to move away because you can't really move around when the shells are raining down.

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But you can see there what's going on in those places and how the people, the few people who are still there are witnessing all this.