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Trump Eyes 2024 Run As GOP Blame Game Escalates; Opposition To GOP Leadership In Both House & Senate; Dem Katie Hobbs Leads Trump- Backed Kari Lake In AZ Gov Race; Study: "Huge" Spike Of Kids With Suicidal Thoughts In ERs; Jeff Bezos: "Take Some Risk Off The Table" In This Economy. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 14, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:19]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Former President Trump is expected to announce a 2024 re-election bid tomorrow, according to his adviser. And it comes as various party factions are sparring over who's to blame for the GOP's lackluster midterm performance.

Let's discuss with CNN senior political commentator, Scott Jennings, a former top adviser to Mitch McConnell, and CNN political commentator, Karen Finney, who's a former senior spokeswoman for Hillary for America.

Good to see both of you.

Scott, as we ready for this announcement tomorrow, do you think Trump could win 2024 or did Tuesday change everything?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He certainly could win. Look, he's quite formidable. For all intents and purposes, he's now the there. Former president, large cadre of advisors who solely depend upon him for the livelihood.

A base of support, a lot of money, which he still has in the bank because he didn't spend very much of on behalf of Republican candidates. So, yes, he has a solid foundation from which to launch a campaign.

What now we have though is potentially Republican voters seeing the next lily pad, the next evolution, and going beyond Trump. Could that be Ron DeSantis, of Florida? Perhaps. There will be other candidates in the mix.

I think he's politically as weak as he's ever been since January 6th anyway. The question is, will someone fill the gap here?

There's a moment in time when someone could chip away and make a plausible argument against him. But if nobody steps up, it could give him a chance to reconstitute himself.

But he's definitely the front-runner as we start out, but weak. CABRERA: So, Karen, if he jumps into the race as expected, and before

President Biden has even announced whether he will as well, does that change how Democrats approach the next election cycle?

[13:34:59]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I and I'll tell you why. Whether or not Trump jumps in, it's clear the Republican Party can't seem to quit him and that his power -- he's got his hands all over what is happening right now in this leadership fight on the Republican side for the House.

And he will certainly have a hand in trying to drive the House agenda.

And what that will do, when we see the various investigations and what I think will be extremism and overreach, that creates a further bright line for the American people about the differences between the two parties.

About the future and the past, about the very same things that they so loudly rejected past Tuesday.

CABRERA: It sounds like you would like to see Trump run again for those reasons. But should President Biden run again?

FINNEY: You know, I think President Biden has earned however much time he wants to make that decision. He said that he will early next year.

You know, we know that, while people have been asked the question, should he or shouldn't he, that was in the heat of a midterm context.

I think when you look at the record, President Biden has accomplished a lot. He has a strong record to run on if he chose to run again. And I think we would do perfectly well.

And, again, there's a difference between the extremism that we're seeing on the Republican side and these issues that are playing themselves out right now in these leadership contests on the Republican side, even before, frankly, all the votes have been counted.

CABRERA: Let's talk more about that, Scott, about the jockeying that has been happening right now for the leadership positions on the Hill.

We've already discussed what was happening with McCarthy. But even in the Senate, there have been a number of voices, Rick Scott, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, now suggesting Mitch McConnell doesn't have their stamp of approval as minority leader.

You worked closely with McConnell. What do you think is going on?

JENNINGS: I would quibble with the word "growing." Because just before we came on the air here for this segment, Marsha Blackburn, a key conservative voice in the Senate Republican conference, came out and said she's not for delaying the leadership vote. I think there's a small group of people, for their own personal

reasons, personal ambition reasons, are making noise about this. They don't have a candidate to oppose Mitch McConnell.

And as Senator Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, said, in order to beat a man, you have to beat the man. He was channeling his inner Rick Flair in that moment. But that's a true story.

McConnell's record on the election is pretty clear. Raised and spent almost $400 million on behalf of candidates. He elected all that on the field.

Versus the person they follow, I think, Donald Trump, who hoarded a lot of money in his account and I think scrambled our chances to win.

I mean, Dr. Oz, in Pennsylvania, for instance, was his choice. Oz was trying to run on a campaign of moderation and balance, that he said all the time.

And Trump shows up the last week of the campaign, like the last night of the campaign, and throws his entire message into disarray and we lose the race.

So I think, if you look at whose fingerprints are on what, most Republican Senators know McConnell did everything possible to win and people did everything possible to help themselves.

And to Karen's point, Independent voters don't want chaos and they don't want extremism. They want stability in their government. And

CABRERA: Let me -- let me --

JENNINGS: -- I think some of these folks are missing that message.

CABRERA: So let me get to this though. Because I think everyone is trying to interpret these lessons from the midterms.

And we heard this morning from a newly elected Democratic congresswoman in Washington State, who pulled off a big upset. And she had this takeaway. Her name is Maria Gluesenkamp Perez. She's the owner of an auto body shop. She flipped a red seat.

Here's how she assesses Democrats need to be do better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP.-ELECT MARIA GLUESENKAMP PEREZ (D-WA): It really feels like folks that work in the trades, rural Democrats, it feels like we're a dying breed.

And it's critical that, if we want to be relevant in those cases, Democrats have to stop explaining things to rural people and people who work in the trades and start listening.

Because, you know, we know things that, you know, other folks might not know. And we feel overlooked and no listened to so often. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Karen, very quickly, tightest as you can do.

FINNEY: Yes.

Is she right?

FINNEY: Absolutely. But I think one of the things that Democrats did very well and part of the reason we won last Tuesday is that we did just that.

We made early investments in the ground game and went out and listened to people and spent money on making sure we were paying attention to what was happening on the ground and having that dialogue with voters early and often, all the way up to Election Day.

I certainly hope my party continues doing that, and doing just that between now, not just in the next election, but going forward.

CABRERA: It also looks like Tuesday will be critical for Democrats. What we know, Republicans won 2-1 almost the rural votes. And so here she's saying Democrats need to focus more on what we're hearing in those parts of the country.

Scott Jennings, Karen Finney, it's always interesting to have you both. Thank you both so much for the conversation.

FINNEY: Thanks.

CABRERA: The votes are rolling in. And I want to go back to John Berman at the Magic Wall.

[13:40:03]

We have an update on Arizona, John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Arizona governor's race, you can see right now Katie Hobbs, who was ahead by 26,000, now ahead by 24,772. This is because there was new vote counting, the new vote release from Pinal County, a ruby red county. You can see where Kari Lake is leading.

Let me give you exact numbers because it will give you a sense of how this race is moving or changing or might change.

OK, Pinal County, this vote in. There was a dump of 3,397 votes. Kari Lake, in that batch, got 2,309 and Katie Hobbs got 1,070. Kari Lake, that was 68.3, and for Katie Hobbs, it was about 31.7.

So you can see how this was enough to have her close that gap, Kari Lake was able to close that gap by about 1,200 votes.

Tonight, we're expecting a lot more votes from Arizona, including 95,000 from Maricopa County and also about 40,000 those from Pinal County, both of which skew a little bit Democratic. Kari Lake still needs to win about 58 percent of that vote if she

wants to close in on Katie Hobbs. This patch from Pinal, she got more than that. She got 68 percent. So this is what she needs to do to have any hope of getting on top of Katie Hobbs.

CABRERA: OK. So that Arizona governor's race getting a little bit tighter but a lot of votes left to count.

John Berman, thank you.

We'll be right back.

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[13:46:28]

CABRERA: Welcome back. A new study out, and the findings are very concerning. It finds a huge increase in the number of children showing up in hospital emergency rooms because of suicidal thoughts.

CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, has the details here.

Jacqueline, we already knew the pandemic had an impact on teens and their mental health, but this study shows a spike in suicidal thoughts.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Ana. This study really adds to our understanding of the mental health impact the pandemic has had.

And separately from this research, we knew that nearly three-quarters of high schoolers reported having some kind of childhood adverse experience during the pandemic, like abuse in the home or like not having enough food to eat. And those experiences can really increase your risk for having suicidal ideations.

With this new study, researchers found, before the pandemic, in the years 2016 to 2017, compared with after the pandemic, the years 2019 through 2021, there was a 59 percent increase in the frequency of E.R. visits tied to having suicidal thoughts.

And the researchers called this, quote, "a continuous increasing mental health crisis." What they mean by that, before the pandemic, we did see a steady rise in these E.R. visits.

You should see, Ana, on the chart here this rise before the pandemic. But then after the pandemic, as you see, towards the end of the chart, there were spikes where we saw even more E.R. visits tied to suicidal ideation. This is among kids ages 5 to 19.

So the takeaway here, Ana, this is a sign of the mental health services we need and support we need for our young people -- Ana?

CABRERA: Absolutely.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you. And a reminder for our viewers, if someone you know is struggling with

suicidal thoughts or more mental health matters, there is help. Just call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Those three numbers, 988.

What does it say about the economy when the multibillionaire founder of Amazon suggests rethinking any big purchases right now? That's next.

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[13:53:02]

CABRERA: When the fourth-wealthiest person in the world is offering finance advice, it's probably a good idea to listen.

Jeff Bezos says we should all get ready for the possibility of an extended recession.

The Amazon founder sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Chloe Melas, who joins us now.

Chloe, what is he advising people do or not do?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Look, I mean, it's obvious we're facing economic hardship here in the United States. What is on everyone's minds, Ana, as we enter the holiday season, is, are we on the brink of a recession?

I asked Jeff Bezos about that, how long he thinks it would last, if we truly do get into one, and his advice for small business owners.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER, AMAZON: I don't know whether we're technically in a recession. Economists argue over that and they have certain technical definitions.

What I can tell you is the economy does not look great right now. Things are slowing down. You're seeing lay-offs in many, many sectors of the economy, people are slowing down.

The probabilities, say, if we're not in a recession right now, we're likely to be in one very soon.

So my advice to people, whether they're small business owners or, you know -- is take some risk off the table. If you were going to make a purchase, maybe slowdown that purchase a little bit. Keep some dry powder on hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: It was a wide-ranging interview at their Washington, D.C., home, Ana. We got into a lot of topics. This coming on the heels of Jeff Bezos and his longtime partner and

vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, Lauren Sanchez, giving Dolly Parton, Friday night, a $100 million grant. It's called the Courage and Civility Award.

And this is a grant that he's formally awarded to Jose Andres and CNN's Van Jones. No strings attached. Just help the world. And they spoke a lot about philanthropy.

And Jeff Bezos making news in our CNN interview that, although he has not signed a giving pledge, which we didn't discuss it specifically, the giving pledge, that he does plan to give away the majority of his wealth before he dies.

[13:55:12]

CABRERA: And he's estimated to be worth right now $124 billion.

Chloe Melas, such an interesting interview. I encourage everybody to go and see more of it and read more of it and read more about it on our Web site, CNN.com.

Thanks so much.

And that's going to do it for us today. Appreciate everyone for joining us. See you tomorrow, same time, same place.

The news continues with Alisyn and Victor right after a quick break.

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