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This Hour, Biden to Meet Congressional Leadership at the White House; Supreme Court Hears Texas' Challenge to Biden Immigration Policies; Arizona Election Deniers Confront Officials in Maricopa County. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 29, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Jim Sciutto.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Happening this hour, a rare meeting at White House, House and Senate leadership set to meet with President Biden on the agenda, key legislative priorities, and we're live at the White House and Capitol Hill in just a moment.

SCIUTTO: Plus, the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments in a case against the Biden administration and its immigration policies. This as two Republican attorneys argue the Department of Homeland Security is skirting existing federal immigration law.

And the big sports drama, a bit of politics as well in Qatar, as team USA is set to take on Iran in what is a must-win World Cup match-up today for the U.S. team. We're going to take you live to Doha.

GOLODRYGA: And that game happening at 2:00 P.M. Eastern.

But we begin with this to CNN. President Biden is set to meet with congressional leaders at the White House this hour.

CNN Correspondent M.J. Lee is on the north lawn and CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill. M.J., to you first, what more are you learning about this meeting?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you will recall that right after the midterms, President Biden said that no matter what the final results are, he wanted to work with both Republicans and Democrats to figure out what their legislative priorities are in the lame duck and convene these lawmakers at the White House. Well, we're just learning that that meeting is going to take place this morning at 10:30. So, we should briefly hear the president speak as well before he heads into that meeting with congressional leaders.

But, obviously, there are a number of very urgent priorities for this White House and Democrats, including things like raising the debt ceiling, like funding the government. They want to get more money for things like COVID, for Ukraine aid, and the same-sex marriage bill that is making its way across Capitol Hill, that is obviously something that the president hopes to sign into law as soon as possible.

And then on the issue of the assault weapons ban, we obviously heard the president talking about this over Thanksgiving break. Our reporting on the Hill is that the votes simply aren't there but the White House has made clear in recent days that it is still an issue that they want to continue to at least talk about and push forward because they wanted to signal that it is a priority for Democrats and this president.

Now, the reason that there is such real urgency around all of these issues is because Democrats are keenly aware that come January, things are going to really change in Washington. Governing and legislating is going to become so much more difficult for Democrats once Republicans take control of the House. So, there are a lot of reasons why in the next couple of weeks, Democrats are hoping to get done a lot of these urgent things on their top to-do list.

SCIUTTO: No question. There is say word for all that. It is called gridlock, familiar in Washington.

Manu Raju on the Hill, so one of the priorities is the president calling on Congress to intervene in this potential rail strike. I've spoke to the head of one of the major unions last hour who said, without congressional action, they are going to strike. Do we know, does the administration, do they have the votes to push through, push this agreement through?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It appears that way. I've been talking to sources in both parties since President Biden made that call last night. And they do expect that there will be more than 60 votes to break a filibuster in the United States Senate.

Now, that is significant because, of course, you need to have bipartisan support in order to get anything through. And at the moment, that is what is expected.

Now, the process is still a bit uncertain. We do expect the House to move forward this week. Nancy Pelosi indicated they would have a vote to implement that tentative agreement that was reached between the unions and the industry back in September. They do plan to have legislation to essentially implement that tentative agreement in the House that will be approved this week. We'll see how many Republicans ultimately vote for that. We'll see how many liberals vote against it. Because there have been concerns among some progressives about the lack of guaranteed sick days as part of that program.

Now, one of the persons or people who have been raising concerns is Senator Bernie Sanders. He's the independent from Vermont, someone who caucuses with Senate Democrats. He just spoke with reporters moments ago and indicated -- leveled some criticism against the railway industry. He would not say whether or not he would support this legislation, also importantly would not say whether he would agree to essentially expedite the vote, because in the United States Senate, you need to have an agreement between all 100 senators to have a quick vote.

[10:05:02]

If one senator were to object, that would delay that process and potentially could push this back until after that December 9th deadline to avert a strike.

Sanders would not say one way or the other on whether he would agree to expedite the process but that is going to be where the focus is going to be over the next several days. Can they get it out of the House? Can they get it on the Senate floor quickly? Will anyone try to change this or scuttle this in any way? And can they get it in time to avert the strike? All big questions, but at moment, expectations they do have the vote in both chambers to get this to Biden's desk.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Worse case, I guess, they could extend the cooling off period but that is not necessarily an answer to the problem and they want a solution as soon as possible.

Manu Raju, M.J. Lee, you'll continue to follow the president's meeting with congressional leaders for us. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: All right. Now to the Supreme Court, where justices are hearing argument this is morning in a major immigration case.

CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider is following this. So, this is a challenge to the Biden administration policy, two Republican attorneys here. What is at stake here and when are we going to hear an outcome?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We probably won't hear an outcome until the spring here, arguments starting right now. But this is a case that really pits the conservative states, which have taken this hard line and this hard stance against the Biden administration because of their immigration policies, against the secretary of homeland security, which has really tried to set these guidelines for priorities about how they're going to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.

So, this really all traces back to a September 2021 memo from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He prioritized which immigrants should be deported, specifically those who are a danger to national security, those who pose a threat to public safety, also those who pose a threat to border security.

Because of those guidelines, Republicans in Texas and Louisiana, they sued. They said that since federal law provides that all illegal migrants must be deported in certain circumstances, that the administration was acting contrary to federal law in that memo.

The administration, of course, pushed back. They said that he had no choice but to prioritize certain immigrants for deportation since there are more than 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. and DHS really lacks the resources to deport all of them.

Now at this point, a federal judge has already blocked these Biden administration guidelines. So, now the administration is fighting to get them back into effect. And, Jim, the Biden administration is really arguing here that, sure, federal law says that most undocumented immigrants under certain circumstances must be deported, but they say it is up to the administration to set these guidelines and these priorities since they have limited resources here.

Of course, Republican states, this is just their latest fight against the Biden administration when it comes to immigration. We saw Republican officials busing immigrants, undocumented immigrants to Democratic-led states earlier this year, exactly, flying them to Martha's Vineyard. So, this just their latest fight here.

The justices are hearing these arguments now. They'll have to decide whether these states even have the standing or the legal right to sue here. And then they'll decide whether the administration have the right to enact these guidelines. We'll see.

SCIUTTO: It will be a big case going forward. We'll have to wait for the spring for the answer. Jessica Schneider, thanks very much.

Well, moments from now, Ukraine's first lady will address parliament in London, asking the British public not to forget the tragedy playing out in her homeland this Christmas. It is the latest effort by Ukraine to secure support, keep up that support from key allies in the west.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, this is different. We typically see her husband addressing parliament, not in-person but via Zoom. But here, we have the first lady doing that ahead of the holidays.

Now, Ukrainian officials say millions of its citizens are facing a winter with limited electricity, water and central heating.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Moscow. So, the United Nation says the humanitarian situation in Southern Ukraine is now critical. We were anticipating this, obviously concerned as the cold weather sets in, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, certainly, a lot of people were anticipating it, and I think certainly the U.S. and its allies were anticipating this as well, especially as the Russians continue to hit the key infrastructure in Ukraine. And we know especially in the south of Ukraine, a lot has been destroyed by the fighting as well, guys.

One of the interesting things that happened today is the NATO secretary general, he came out and he once again accused Vladimir Putin, as he put it, of weaponizing winter. NATO is saying that the Russians flat out are failing on the battlefield and, therefore, are trying to both starve but especially freeze Ukrainians into submission.

And one of the interesting things that we've heard from Vladimir Putin over the past couple of days is Friday, he met with soldiers' mothers and he seemed to kind of indicate the exact same thing. He was saying he believe that right now the Russians are not fighting against Ukrainians in Ukraine, but actually fighting, as he put it against those who bankroll and supply Ukraine, obviously trying to stylize this into some sort of wider conflict with NATO and, of course, especially with the U.S. as well.

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And, you know, one of the interesting things that we've been picking up as we're on the ground here in Moscow, watching state television, listening to Russian officials, is that they make no secret of the fact that this is going to continue. If you look at Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, he said that the strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, which obviously makes people freeze for so many days and so badly now in winter, is going to continue until Russia's demands are met.

And if you look at it on pro-Kremlin state T.V. here in Russia as well, they are also saying that they believe at some point this is going to have an effect on the Ukrainian population. Of course, the U.S. says, otherwise, they are going to continue to support Ukraine, guys.

SCIUTTO: Yes. They're suffering through so much. It is the deliberate strategy of the Russian military right now and it is just hard to imagine in the midst of winter. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Still to come, consumer confidence in the U.S. economy at its lowest rating since July. The impact it could have on the all- important holiday shopping season, ahead.

SCIUTTO: People still seem to be shopping though.

Plus, in Arizona, the secretary of state is suing a rural county for failing to certify the midterm elections while election deniers in Maricopa County vow to keep fighting the results despite no evidence of fraud.

And later, in a match charged not just with sports tension, they have got to win this one, but also some politics, the U.S. National Soccer Team faces Iran in a game they got to win. No draws, no looking at the other teams, they have got to come away with a W.

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SCIUTTO: All right. So, maybe you have as much trouble as I do reading the economic numbers because you had a record Black Friday, big consumer sales on Cyber Monday, but this morning, the reading from the U.S. Conference Board is showing the consumer confidence was down again in November, the lowest reading it's recorded since July.

GOLODRYGA: So, sentiment may actually not be equating with what we're seeing in terms of activity, right? But one area where we are seeing a definite slowdown is in the housing sector and U.S. home prices slowed again in September for the third straight month as higher mortgage rates continue to put pressure on the housing market.

So, here with us to explain it all is CNN's Matt Egan. So, Matt, how do we talk about these numbers that we're seeing from retailers at the same time factoring in how consumers are feeling?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jim and Bianna, I think it is important to distinguish what consumers say they feel and what they're actually doing. So, the new numbers out just a few minutes ago, from the Conference Board shows that consumer confidence in November dropped to the lowest level since July. And the Conference Board that said consumers have marked down their expectations for what is going to happen next in the economy. They say the short-term outlook remains gloomy and remains at a low level that suggests that the risks of a recession are high.

The reason why this is concerning, of course, is because consumer spending is the main driver of this economy. People stop spending, all bets are off. But we also have new numbers out suggesting that people are still spending. Adobe Analytics says that on Cyber Monday, Americans spent a record $11.3 billion doing online shopping. That is up by a healthy 5.8 percent year-over-year. And that does appear to be real growth, not just the reflection of inflation, because online prices have actually been coming down. So, if you do adjust for inflation, then that means people are indeed spending more.

I think the fact that confidence is low is a reflection, of course, of high inflation, and also some concerns about the jobs market. We have seen this wave of layoffs from tech companies and there is concerns that that could perhaps spread elsewhere.

We have also got new numbers out this morning on the housing market showing that housing does continue to slow down. Home prices year- over-year in September rose by 10 percent. That is still a big gain but it is actually a deceleration from recent months. It is the smallest year-over-year gain since late 2020. Month-over-month we've seen prices actually decline 1.5 percent.

This, of course, is a reflection of high mortgage rates, mortgage rates that have only gone higher in recent weeks. And Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, he told our colleague, Poppy Harlow, this morning that it could end up taking two years to get mortgage rates back down. So, Jim and Bianna, we may still see more turbulence in the housing market to come.

SCIUTTO: Meanwhile, it seemed consumers kind of keeping a little air in that bubble. Matt Egan, thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Matt.

Well, this morning, Arizona Secretary of State and its Governor- elect Katie Hobbs is suing one of her state's rural counties for failing to certify the midterm elections and her win for governor. Republicans in the county voted to push back certification until Friday, citing concerns about voting machines.

And in Maricopa County, board of supervisors meeting Monday, election deniers are vowing to keep fighting against the midterm results as well.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came here today to get an up close and personal look at the seven traitors to the United States Constitution --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, again, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- for sitting that desk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every single one of you ought to be ashamed of how Arizona is now the laughing stock of the nation because Maricopa County is inept.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a war between good and evil. And you all represent evil, including you. I'm going to look in your eyes, especially you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You sold us out. So, we're not here to be civil.

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You're worried about language. We're worried about our voices being stolen and never getting a fair election again. That is what we're worried about.

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GOLODRYGA: Here with me now is CNN Senior Political Analyst John Avlon. So, that was just a snippet of what we saw, but I think we get an understanding of why the election boards supervisor, Bill Gates, went into hiding for a little while after the midterms because of the vitriol like that.

Now, we should note that election officials went and point-by-point addressed and debunked a lot of their claims. Kari Lake posted only their accusations and not the debunked responses. What does that say, not only about what Kari Lake's motivation is, and her supporters, but people who came to express their views but didn't want to listen to what the actual facts were?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, there is on old quote that says you cannot reason someone out of something they were not reasoned into. And we heard from these anguished people who feel desperately that they did not get a fair election. They deserve our pity because they have been misled by grifters and hucksters and self- interested parties.

There are any number of ways to answer their concerns, and the Maricopa Board of Supervisors did just that. The threats the election workers have been under are inexcusable in a democracy. There is a deliberate attempt to undermine our democracy. And you know if Kari Lake had ultimately pulled out this race, because it took days and days to count those votes, much closer, for example, than the secretary of state's race, she would have been saying, it was a free and fair election.

So, this is all self-interested nonsense but these folks have been misled in fundamental ways and our democracy is the casualty.

GOLODRYGA: So, Republican officials, and we should note that they are Republican officials, who contested a lot of these claims, and said, yes, there were some issues but no one was disenfranchised and votes were indeed counted, the issue involved some of the printing of the ballots, right?

But here is what the Republican official said when they issued a report in response to that concern, all voters were still provided with reasonable, lawful options for voting. And then they went on to blame GOP leaders for encouraging voters not to follow through on those other options.

So, this is Arizona. I think we walked away from the midterms saying, wow, we really dodged a bullet, we were nervous about more situations like this. But should we be nervous that this is even happening in one or two states?

AVLON: Absolutely. Look, the good news from the election was election deniers who campaigned on election denialism is a core tenet out of fealty to Donald Trump and defrauding their voters, in effect, lost in swing states. They won in some deep red states but, presumably, those elections won't be contested because they won't be truly competitive.

But the fact that this virus still exists and it has been ingested by some folks and people are still continuing to contest the elections and not accept defeat is dangerous for democracy, particularly when you see the violent rhetoric that these folks have been pushed to.

And we see threats that have been pushed to election workers. Bill Gates, the head of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors having to go to an undisclosed location, as you said, the constant threats to Republicans who refuse to play along with this lie. And it is a lie. And it is being perpetrated by people who want to undermine our democracy, who want to ruin if they cannot rule.

And there are all sorts of laws that people in the Cochise County who refused certify could be liable if they refuse to do their job. But this is all -- this is a serious thing for our country and we're not done with it yet, unfortunately.

GOLODRYGA: It is dangerous.

AVLON: It is incredibly dangerous.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks for taking the time to sit here and walk us through it.

AVLON: Always. GOLODRYGA: Good to see you, John.

AVLON: Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, the U.S National Soccer Team in a must-win match today at the World Cup, while the game versus Iran has also become something of a political showdown.

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GOLODRYGA: Well, we are just hours away from the start of the big game, that is, of course the U.S. versus Iran at World Cup in Qatar. A win will see one of the teams advance to the next round of play while the other will be sent home.

SCIUTTO: It is a big game. But you also have politics entering this. The players and coaches in both teams, they are having to contend with political overtones around this game, it was on full display as players took questions from reporters, American and Iranian, yesterday.

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TIM REAM, DEFENDER, U.S. NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: Like we said, we support women's rights. We always have, we always will. That message will remain consistent. And what we're doing as a team is supporting that while also trying to prepare for the biggest game that this squad has had to-date.

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SCIUTTO: That regarding the U.S. team support for ongoing protests in Iran led by women.

Joining us now is Paul Tenorio. He's national soccer reporter for The Athletic. Paul, good to have you on this morning.

Listen, we knew that when the U.S. plays Iran, this goes back for decades, going back to '98, politics enter the conversation given the relations between these two countries. We saw it pointed though yesterday, particularly in that press conference where you had Iranian journalists challenging the U.S. players on political issues, race relations.

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You've been covering this stuff for some time.