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Failure To Win Senate Reverberates Across Republican Party; Midterm Results Complicate GOP Leadership Elections In Congress; Biden Meets China's Xi In First Face-To-Face Of Superpower Leaders; Zelenskyy Visits Newly-Liberated City Of Kherson. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 14, 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 CORRESPONDENT: Top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

BLACKWELL: We begin with the Midterm fallout and the impact on the GOP. Republicans are dissecting their failure to win control of the Senate and lackluster performance in the House. Now, they have still not clenched House control nearly one week after Election Day. They are though in a better position than Democrats to win a majority. They need just six more seats.

CAMEROTA: But Republicans underperformance is prompting questions about the party's future who should be their leader and whether Donald Trump should play a role. He's handpicked election-denying candidates were largely rejected in battleground states.

CNN Anchor of THE LEAD and STATE OF THE UNION, Jake Tapper is here with us. So Jake, we know you spoke exclusively with Charlie Baker, that's the outgoing Republican governor of Massachusetts. How does he explain what went wrong?

Well, first of all, we need to just take a step back and take a look at who Charlie Baker is. He is the two-term Republican governor of one of the most Democratic, capital D, blue Commonwealth states in the nation. He's leaving office with an approval rating about 75 percent, even higher than the election rate of the Democrat governor, Healey, who was just elected.

So this is somebody who may be Republicans could listen to and learn from in terms of governance and in terms of winning elections. I asked him why he thinks his party did so poorly, underperform so much in these midterms and in one word he put it this way, extremism.

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TAPPER: I've never really seen a Midterm Election like this. You have a substantial percentage of the country disapproving of a Democratic president, thinking the country is on the wrong track and yet so many people in battleground states rejected Republicans. Democrats are going to hold the Senate, if not pick up a seat. If Kevin McCarthy becomes speaker, and that's an if, he'll have the slimmest of majorities. What went wrong for the Republican Party?

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R) MASSACHUSETTS: Well, I think the biggest issue that played out in the midterms is something that I've talked about a lot over the course of the past eight years, which is voters, generally speaking, especially in battleground states aren't interested in extremism. They just aren't.

They want people who they believe are going to be reasonable, who are going to be collaborative and who represent sort of the fundamental tenet of democracy that it's supposed to be a distributed decision making model and you're supposed to be okay with that.

And I think in the midterms, one of the big lessons that the Republican Party nationally needs to take away from it is voters want collaborative elected officials. They don't want extremes.

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TAPPER: And he knows from this because the Republican nominee for governor who ran to replace him is one of those extremists and he was trounced at the ballot box by the Democratic governor elect.

Gov. Baker also talked about elections across the country, Victor and Alison, including in neighboring New Hampshire, where it was possible that Republicans could have picked up three congressional seats, one in the Senate against Maggie Hassan, the Democrat, and two in the House against the incumbent Democrats, Pappas and Kuster.

But again, Republicans nominated these extremists pushing election lies and Democrats were able to hold on to all three of those seats, even during a midterm year where so many voters are discontent.

CAMEROTA: Yes, you're so right. I mean, the results - the election results - prove that voters for the most part don't like extremism and so he's been proven right. Jake, thank you very much for sharing that. There's so much more of Jake's exclusive interview with Gov. Baker that you can see on THE LEAD at 4 pm Eastern right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Donald Trump is moving ahead with his special announcement tomorrow. An advisor to the former president said that he will launch a third run for the White House. And many Republicans have criticized Trump for being a drag on the party during the midterms. And now some of his closest former allies are coming forward with new criticism of Trump.

CAMEROTA: Let's bring in CNN political correspondent Sara Murray and CNN's Paula Reid.

So Sara, former Vice President Mike Pence just gave one of his most candid rebukes of Donald Trump, so what did he say?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is, perhaps, the harshest we've gotten as far as criticism from Mike Pence of Donald Trump.

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He's talking about what was happening as the riot unfolded at the Capitol January 6 and at the time Trump fires off a tweet while this is all going on, saying that Pence did not have the courage to block the 2020 election results. So in a new interview with ABC News, Pence is reacting to what he felt in that moment, what his reaction was to this tweet, take a listen.

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MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It angered me, but I turned to my daughter who was standing nearby and I said it doesn't take courage to break the law, it takes courage to uphold the law.

The President's words were reckless. It's clear he decided to be part of the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: You hear him there saying that Trump was part of the problem. This is only a little bit of what we're going to hear from Pence. He has a book coming out. He's also teased a possible 2024 run, although no decisions are made.

And look in that interview, he went on and he was asked about all the calls he was making as the riot unfolded, calls to people to try to call - to get more help to get more support at the Capitol. He was asked why Donald Trump was not making those same phone calls. He said you would have to ask him.

BLACKWELL: Paula, Trump's one time Chief of Staff John Kelly told The New York Times that the President repeatedly asked him for some of his perceived political adversaries to be investigated. Let's put this up.

"Mr. Kelly said that among those Mr. Trump said, 'we ought to investigate and get the IRS on were the former Director of the F.B.I., James Comey, his Deputy Andrew McCabe," what more do you know about that?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Kelly told The New York Times that he made it clear to former President Trump that this request was inappropriate, illegal and against the integrity of the IRS.

Now, according to Kelly, Trump responded by saying, "Yes, but they're writing bad things about me." Now, McCabe and Comey both fierce critics of Trump were ultimately selected by the Internal Revenue Service for intensive tax audits.

Now, The Times notes earlier this year, they ran the odds of one person being selected for an audit. Those odds are about one in 30,600, which raises some obvious questions about how two of Trump's most visible critics were both selected for an audit. Now, in a statement to CNN earlier this year, the IRS denied any politically-motivated audits. Kelly told The Times that he believes that he was successful in guiding Trump away from seeking out such investigations. Still, the head of the IRS has asked a watchdog to investigate the decision to conduct audits on that pair earlier this year.

Now, McCabe told CNN over the summer that it just - it defied logic to think that there wasn't some other factor involved in this selection for these audits. He described the process as incredibly rigorous and nerve wracking.

BLACKWELL: Paula Reid, Sara Murray, thank you.

Let's discuss now with our CNN political commentators, Republican strategist Alice Stewart and former National Coalitions Director for the Biden-Harris 2020 Campaign, Ashley Allison. Welcome to you both.

Alice, let me start with you on the former vice president and this, as you say the most candid rebuke which still though when you consider what was tweeted, what was said by the former President seems a little light for - it angered me because ...

CAMEROTA: Oh, the former vice president is understated always but that was the strongest I've heard him about Donald Trump.

BLACKWELL: Certainly, but based on what we've heard, Alice, what does this mean for Trump? What - does this hurt him at all? And if Pence doesn't run, where does this go?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Victor and Alisyn, I think what this means for Trump is that we can basically set our watch to the time when Donald Trump lashes out against Mike Pence with some sort of nickname, which is generally what he does with anyone who stands up to him.

But look, we're expecting to see the former president make an announcement tomorrow night that he does plan to step into the 2024 race and talking with people across the spectrum in the Republican Party, there are mixed feelings. There's somewhat of a toxic relationship many have with the former president. They like him, but they realize he is bad for us and we just heard Charlie Baker, a very popular Republican governor who's acknowledges that Donald Trump is a big factor in our losses. We heard Larry Hogan speak to Dana Bash yesterday, blaming Donald Trump for the last three elections that we lost.

Even the Wall Street Journal has said that since Trump has been elected, he has a perfect success of electoral defeat. But I hope that rational Republicans do is they look at the fact that the voters spoke this week and we don't have all of the numbers but resoundingly the election deniers and the conspiracy theorists loss and the candidates, Republicans that had a positive vision focused on the economy and crime, they fared well.

So the goal now is to listen to the people and look at keeping the bass on board but broadening the electorate and I think the best way to do that is to turn the page from Donald prompt and find some much more positive vision.

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CAMEROTA: Ashley, I know you're not in the business of giving Republicans any advice. However if you want to look at how far Donald Trump has fallen out of favor, with even MAGA, Republicans look at the transformation of Mo Brooks - Congressman Mo Brooks. You pointed this out earlier.

Mo Brooks said this weekend, "It would be a bad mistake for the Republicans to have Donald Trump as their nominee in 2024." Donald Trump has proven himself to be dishonest, disloyal, incompetent, crude and a lot of other things that alienate so many independents and Republicans. Even a candidate who campaigns from his basement can beat him."

They're making a pejorative statement about Joe Biden. But just contrast that to roughly a year ago where he thought that Donald Trump was the second coming, so let's listen to this moment from Mo Brooks for a second.

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REP. MO BROOKS (R-AL): Thank you, Mr. President and future president United States of America. I'm pleased to announce the second coming up President Donald J. Trump.

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CAMEROTA: Pretty astonishing. Ashley?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, I actually agree with Mo Brooks and the way he described Donald Trump, but it didn't just start today. I think Donald Trump is - was an incompetent president, was disloyal, crude when he started running for president back in 2015 and honestly many years even before that.

The thing that is striking and very clear is that Mo Brooks is more concerned about winning than his loyalty to Donald Trump. It is very clear when Donald Trump lost his bid for the presidency in second term in 2020. It wasn't just because he was fueling down on our democracy, it's because Americans were not satisfied with his performance on many issues, including responding to COVID.

And so it seems like Mo Brooks is finally catching up to the type of character that Donald Trump is and now that the Republicans did so poorly this election cycle is being disloyal, honestly, to Donald Trump and turning his back on him because he's more concerned about winning, than siding with the person that he considered the second coming, as you said, in his own comments.

BLACKWELL: Alice, I want you to listen to the portion of an interview between Dana Bash, she's speaking with Speaker Pelosi about the Republicans, some Republican elected officials' reaction in response to the attack on her husband.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It wasn't just the attack. It was a Republican reaction to it, which was disgraceful. And that I think - really, the attack is horrible. I mean, imagine what - how I feel as the one who was the target and my husband paying the price and the traumatic effect on our family.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That turned voters off?

PELOSI: They tell me so.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Do you think that the less than sympathetic responses from some Republicans turned off voters, we saw some of that last Tuesday?

STEWART: I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. And look, there were a few voices in the Republican Party that said some things that are absolutely unexcusable and anything short of an absolute condemnation of that horrific attack is wrong.

And I think as many - I joined many of my friends and colleagues in the Republican Party continuing to offer our thoughts and prayers to Nancy Pelosi as well as her husband, but I think that attack was just a culmination of independent voters and undecided voters who were looking for something different, looking for a lowering of the temperature.

Many were already frustrated, again, with a conspiracy theories and those that were looking to re litigate the 2020 election, and this attack on Paul Pelosi and some less than sympathetic voices was just the icing on the cake for many people to look another way aside from the Republican Party.

BLACKWELL: Ashley Allison, Alice Stewart, thank you both for your perspectives.

BLACKWELL: This Wednesday night, former Vice President Mike Pence will join our Jake Tapper for a live CNN Town Hall, so be sure to watch that 9 pm Eastern right here on CNN.

Now, this just in to CNN, former Tonight Show host Jay Leno tells Variety that he is recovering from burn injuries following a gasoline fire.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now. Stephanie, what have you learned about Jay Leno?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that he's alive, so that is the good news here because he also has put out the statement. But it sounds like some very scary developments here, as we look at the statement from Jay Leno about what happened. This is what he's told Variety and I'm just going to go ahead and read it to you. He said, "I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am okay." Just need a week or two to get back on his feet. Now, CNN has also reached out to his representatives as well.

From what we gather, Leno was reportedly working on one of his vehicles in his legendary car.

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As you may know, Jay Leno is very much into cars and he has one of the most famous car collections there are right here in the Los Angeles area. He was allegedly there working on one of these cars when it reportedly burst into flames.

According to TMZ, he is right now in a burn center being treated for his wounds. We also know that Leno was expected to make an appearance in Las Vegas yesterday, but had to cancel and People Magazine learning through the organizers of that event, through an email that they sent out to the participants, that he was not going to be able to be there because of a very serious medical emergency that was preventing Jay from traveling. That's how they put it in this message and that they said that they all that they knew was that he was alive, and that their prayers were going out to him and his family tonight.

But obviously very scary developments for the 72-year-old who is known for his car collection, but it looks like he may be on the road to recovery but still very terrifying.

BLACKWELL: Yes. He says he needs a week or two to get back on his feet. I wonder if he's just trying to put a brave face on this, but when he describes it as serious burns from a gasoline fire, that can be life threatening, of course.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is scary. Stephanie, thank you very much.

All right. An emotional reunion in Kherson, Ukrainian soldiers see their friends and family after being liberated from Russian forces. We have more to show you just ahead.

BLACKWELL: And President Biden holds a high stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping where Biden says he raised concerns about everything from human rights to the standoff over Taiwan, we'll discuss.

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CAMEROTA: The leaders of the world's two biggest economies met in person today for the first time since Joe Biden became president. President Biden said he talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping for three and a half hours on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Indonesia, U.S.-China relations are at a low because of issues like trade, Taiwan, North Korea and Russia's war in Ukraine.

President Biden said that while the meeting was not all Kumbaya, there was no concern of a new Cold War.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were very blunt with one another about places where we disagreed or where we were uncertain of each other's position. And we agreed we'd set up - and we did - mechanisms whereby we would meet in detail with our - the key people in each of our administrations to discuss how we could resolve them.

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BLACKWELL: CNN Senior White House Correspondent, Phil Mattingly, is in Bali, Indonesia, following the president. Phil, give us more on this first face-to-face between President Biden and President Xi.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was a low expectations moment with extraordinarily high stakes to some degree, one that was an absolute necessity, given the kind of deep freeze that had kind of been cast over the course of not just the leader communications, but also their top officials underneath them and their counterparts over the course of the last two years.

This was a three plus hour meeting where a range of topics pretty much anything you can think of whether it's trade and economic related issues, whether it's public health, obviously, climate change, as well, certainly military issues, probably the most consequential and contentious issue of Taiwan, all of them covered in this meeting, where two leaders, at least according to U.S. officials, really tried and laid out - to lay out and sharpen both their perspectives, their priorities and where they were going to be clear disagreements.

And I think that was kind of at the core of the entire meeting, trying to set the stage for communication in order to avoid conflict. The very real concern when you talk to U.S. officials is that someone will just make a mistake and that's how they will dip themselves from competition into conflict.

One other thing to keep in mind here, both of these leaders came in to this moment, kind of with a tailwind to some degree in terms - that underscored their political strength. Obviously, President Xi, just securing his third term at the - in China a couple of weeks ago.

President Biden really bucking historical trends to have a better midterm than anybody expected, both of them really kind of focusing on that as they went in and the President focusing on it after, take a listen.

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BIDEN: What we saw was the strength and resilience of the American democracy, and we saw it in action. And the American people proved once again that democracy is who we are.

And there was a strong rejection of election deniers at every level, from those seeking to lead our states and those seeking to serve in Congress and also those seeking to oversee the elections. And there was a strong rejection of political violence and voter intimidation.

There was an emphatic statement that in America, the will of the people prevails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: That statement was not for a domestic audience and certainly one that he said for us voters, for the U.S. public. That was for an international audience, it reflected, what I'm told, conversations he had with other world leaders over the course of this three-stop trip up to this point. But it was also one that he wanted to underscore for his counterpart, Xi Jinping, and the fact that in the democracy versus autocracy construct that the President always talks about democracy has shown some results in the last couple of weeks at least in the presidency. Back to you guys.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Phil Mattingly for us there in Bali, thank you.

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made an unannounced visit to the newly liberated city of Kherson. There were joyous chants. You can hear them there and people sing the national anthem.

CAMEROTA: CNN International Diplomatic Editor. Nic Robertson, joins us live now from Kherson. So Nic, a significant day, but of course Zelenskyy himself acknowledges this is far from over.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He does, but he said they're moving forward.

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He said he's ready for peace but he made it clear on Ukraine's terms that peace for the whole of Ukraine which means not Putin's terms which is a peace that would keep part of Ukraine in Russian hands.

So a very clear political statement from him, but a message from the people of Kherson as well to say that I hear your problems, the city doesn't have water, doesn't have electricity, no heating, obviously, it's very cold at this time of year. So this was a message that he will try to get things done.

The first aid shipment came in today, just after he'd been in town. While he was there, engineers were putting up a cell phone transmitter tower, which will give cell phone service and some internet connection to the people of the city, which has been deprived since the Russians destroyed it before they left just a few days ago.

So that - so there was a domestic political content there to it, but a very big international political content, and perhaps the closest President Zelensky has been to the frontlines since the war began. You might have just heard that outgoing artillery from behind me here, the frontline is literally just across the river here.

And the understanding is that Ukrainian forces are continuing their advances, President Zelenskyy said, with moving forward and it seems that they are.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Nic Robertson, thank you very much for the update. Now, closer to the capital of Kyiv. street artist Banksy just unveiled a new mural. It depicts a female gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble on the side of a building damaged by Russian strikes. This is in the liberated Ukrainian town of Borodyanka.

BLACKWELL: Now, speculation had been mounting that Banksy was in Ukraine after a series of murals appeared in the small town. Only this one though, has been verified by the artist on Instagram. And I know that Banksy typically likes these to stay as public exhibits, but often because of their value, people just carved them right out of the wall and they go to auction houses.

CAMEROTA: It's incredible to see them and how he was able to do that sort of under the cover of well - wartime.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Billionaire Jeff Bezos tells CNN that he plans to give most of his money away. We'll have more on that. Also his advice on how to handle a possible recession, next.

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