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U.S. Vs Iran, Today's Soccer Match Becomes Geopolitical Showdown; White House Publicly Treating China Protests with Extra Sensitivity, Caution; Biden Meeting with Congressional Leaders About End-of-Year Agenda. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 29, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You've been covering this stuff for some time. I just wonder how tense that has made this game as it comes up and whether it is something that has begun to bother the players?

PAUL TENORIO, NATIONAL SOCCER REPORTER, THE ATHLETIC: Well, it certainly was a tense press conference, that is for sure. I think it was one of the most surreal or different press conferences that I've ever attended just because of the way the questions were asked, the fact that U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter was asked about why he hasn't asked the U.S. government to remove the evil presence of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf and discussions of inflation and whether that was impacting the popularity of the national team back home, and then, of course, the question that you referenced to Tyler Adams about representing the United States with its history of discrimination.

I think, though, that the intensity of that moment in the press conference won't have as big of an impact on the players on the field once the whistle blows. At least the U.S. players have tried to say as much, that they will be focused on the soccer once it starts. Tyler Adams said feels like this is a really good Iranian team. And so if they aren't focused on kind of the basics of the soccer side of it, then they would be doing a disservice to themselves and to the tournament itself. But I think it's impossible to ignore the fact that when you have these types of tensions around a game, it can impact emotion on the field as well.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Tyler handles that with such grace at just 23 years old. And, Paul, for those that are not big soccer fans or don't know much about who these players are, one of the added pluses, I would say, for the U.S. team is this is such a young, strong, healthy team.

Just from a sports standpoint, talk about this matchup that we're expecting to see, the players from Iran and the United States. Give us your assessment of what you're going to be looking for and who you think comes into this game the stronger of the teams.

TENORIO: Well, we've seen two different types of Iran teams at this tournament. We saw a team that lost to England in its opener 6-2. They played very conservatively. Excuse me, they played very conservatively. But -- sorry about that. They played very conservatively in that game. But in the Wales game, we saw a team that was very aggressive, that came out playing the best style of soccer that they could. They -- and that is the Iranian team that this U.S. team is expecting.

We know that this U.S. team is the second youngest team at the world cup. But they don't lack in experience. Christian Pulisic has won a Champions League. Tyler Adams has played in a Champions League semifinal. These players in the Premier League. It is going to be a matchup I think we see an Iranian team playing a little bit more defensive. They just need a draw to advance and the U.S. team has to have a win. And so I think it is going to a battle of trying to get that early goal, the U.S., to ease the pressure a bit.

SCIUTTO: Yes, the U.S. has to score goals.

Just quickly, Paul, you cover this closely, prediction?

GOLODRYGA: Can you hear us, Paul?

SCIUTTO: We might have lost him.

TENORIO: I lost the audio.

SCIUTTO: I just asked you if you have -- do you a prediction for the game? You cover this closely.

TENORIO: Yes. I have all week. I have kind of been a little bit pessimistic. I felt like this Iranian team is so difficult to break down and I thought for sure maybe a draw or a loss would be disappointing for the U.S. In the last hours in the lead-up to this game, I think I've kind of been flipping my mind. I think we've heard this U.S. team talk about how important this game is. I think a win is in store for the U.S. in this game.

SCIUTTO: All right. We'll see if you're right.

GOLODRYGA: Hey, Jim, do you have a prediction?

SCIUTTO: Me personally?

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

SCIUTTO: I'm going with Paul. I'm going to say the U.S. comes out on top.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. I'll go even further. I'll say it is 2-1, U.S. on top. So --

SCIUTTO: Wow, aggressive.

GOLODRYGA: We'll talk about that tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Bookies beware.

GOLODRYGA: Go, Team USA. SCIUTTO: Politics now. At any moment now, President Biden will meet with congressional leaders of both parties about his priorities for the final weeks before Republicans take control of the House. I'm going to speak with Senator Mark Warner about what is at the top of his agenda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

SCIUTTO: This morning, the Biden White House is treading carefully as civil unrest in China continues over the country's extreme COVID-19 restrictions. But top U.S. officials have made two things clear, the administration supports the people's right to peacefully protest and it does not agree with China's so-called zero-COVID policy. However, the U.S. is choosing words carefully and deliberately as it tries to find common ground on a host of issues, including tensions over Taiwan.

Joining me now to discuss, Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, he's vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator, thank you for taking the time this morning.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Jim, I hate to correct you right off the front, but I'm actually chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

SCIUTTO: I just demoted you. Apologies.

WARNER: I have been for the last two years and will be for the next two.

SCIUTTO: I'm aware, and apologies, too much soccer on my head, as we were discussing in the break.

WARNER: No problem at all.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about China.

WARN: Sure. This drives home the point that I've been trying to make for years, that my beef and those of us who have been harder on China, our beef is with the communist party and Xi Jinping's leadership. It's not with the Chinese people. And I think if we don't say that, we oftentimes play into the CCP's, frankly, propaganda agenda when they try to make this kind of almost a racial issue.

[10:40:01]

So, I think we're seeing the Chinese people speak up for more freedom against the COVID lockdown policies. I support that against the technology censorship.

One of the things that the Intel Committee has spent a lot of time on making the case that the long-term technology competition with China is the issue of our times, and that is why we did frankly the chips bill, that is why we did the areas around the 5G and the telecom. We're looking at other areas where we have to compete, and it is going to be around technology.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you about this. Because I understand the administration's reticence on not speaking out too openly in favor of the protests because they don't want China to do what it already does, which is to say, oh, this is a foreign plot and instigators from outside the country are causing all of this, when this is very clearly a grassroots set of protests there. Do you, though, believe there is something -- particularly as China is now cracking down on those protesters, something more that the U.S. could or should do to support the Chinese people when they express themselves this way?

WARNER: Well, I think there are things that those of us leaders in the Senate and the House have a little bit more flexibility, frankly, than the administration. This -- the administration, particularly after the most recent meeting between Xi and Biden, to try to have lower some of the tensions. This is a -- we don't want an active conflict to erupt. I think those of us in the Congress have a little more freedom. And I think we can push the administration, but as you said, we don't want to feed the propaganda machine that turns these protesters driven by Chinese people into what the overall message would be of the Chinese people.

And, remember, that is why I talk about the technology. The TikTok that the Chinese people receive is very different than what the TikTok that we receive as one case, the Chinese social media companies that are completely -- owe their allegiance by law to the communist party, not they're shareholders. So, if they're able to portray this as kind of an anti-Chinese or western plot, that undermines the very protesters that we're trying to stand with.

SCIUTTO: Understood, no question.

I do want to ask you about domestic legislative priorities, particularly in the lame duck session. You do have the Senate to vote today on codifying same-sex marriage and interracial marriage, but we should note, this basically allows, for folks at home who are watching, requires that states recognize other states' ability or marriages from other states, same-sex marriages or interracial marriages from other states. Should Congress pass a broader bill to protect the right more generally if the Supreme Court overturns same- sex marriage?

WARNER: Yes, I think that is a key point. Right now, same-sex marriage is protected by a Supreme Court decision. But as we saw with women's reproductive rights, particularly with this court, that could be in jeopardy at some point. So, this bill, which will basically make sure that if -- if the Supreme Court overturns the marriage equality at the court level, then we'd go back to the pre-court decisions and a lot of states would still have state laws that would prohibit marriages in their particular states.

That wouldn't mean that in a state like, for example, my neighboring state in Maryland, where gay marriage has already been protected, that marriage would still have to be recognized in an Alabama under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution. And this bill today doesn't go as far as I'd like. But the art of getting 60 votes is the art of the possible.

And I want to thank Kyrsten Sinema and Tammy Baldwin who have really done a great job putting together a coalition of 12 Republicans.

And, frankly, at the end of the day, I think in the final vote, we may even see a few more votes than the 62 we've gotten so far.

SCIUTTO: Okay. You've pushed to get the Electoral Count Act done this session as well. As you know, Trump is running for president and he'll be running for president at a time when the GOP will control the House in the next election, or at least to oversee the next presidential election. Does Congress need to pass ECA now?

WARNER: Absolutely. And we have a broad, 37 co-sponsors. It has already been passed in the House. It has the support of not only the Democratic leadership but I want to give credit to Leader McConnell. He's one of the co-sponsors, and the same kind of bipartisan group of us who worked on this bill and the chips bill and the infrastructure bill, we put the band back together on the Electoral Count Act.

And what this does, for your viewers, very briefly, is it makes sure that the vice president's role is to simply count the electoral votes, not anything else to interfere, codifying what Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6th. It also it says it will take more than a single senator or a single house member to try to contest a state's electoral count.

[10:45:00]

So, it raises the number to 20 percent. And you could argue whether that should be plus or more, but it doesn't allow a few outlier in either party to disrupt the process. And it guarantees access to the federal courts and makes sure that an election denier isn't going to be able to overturn the will of the people, luckily, as we saw --

SCIUTTO: Do you have the votes to do it?

WARNER: Oh, yes, we've got --

SCIUTTO: In a lame duck?

WARNER: I think on a standalone basis, this bill would still get 60 to 70, more like 70 to 75 votes. I think at end of the day, it will probably be attached because we've got to make sure we get the full year funding. It would be crazy to go into what's called a continuing resolution again. That would cost the taxpayers tons of dollars and really hurt our defense establishment. We have got to make sure we pass the defense bill.

I've got our intelligence bill that goes along with the defense bill that needs to get passed. So, this gets a little bit, as we all know, in these final days, if you don't follow the minutia up and down, the timing process particularly in the Senate. So, I think the electoral count will end up probably being attached to another must-pass bill.

SCIUTTO: Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, thanks so much, and go USA in this match in about three hours and 15 minutes.

WARNER: Go USA. Thanks, Jim.

GOLODRYGA: Well, still ahead, a woman who was kidnapped when she was just a toddler is now being reunited with her parents more than five decades later. We'll have this incredible story on how this all happened for you up next after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

SCIUTTO: Right now, President Biden is meeting with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House. He shared a few remarks about his priorities before it began. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Then I ask four top leaders of Congress whether they would be willing to come in and talk about what we're going to do between now and Christmas in terms of legislation. And there is a lot to do, including resolving the train strike, the train -- what we're doing now and in Congress, I think has to act to prevent it. It's not an easy call but I think we have to do it. The economy is at risk.

We're going to work together to fund -- I hope we'll work together to fund the government, the COVID and the war in Ukraine, all controversial, consequential issues. And we're going to find other areas of common ground, I hope, because the American people want us to work together. And so I'm going to stop there and get started because I'm sure this is going to go very quickly and everyone is going to be (INAUDIBLE).

All kidding aside, we're here to get work done and thank you for taking an interest in the time to meet with me.

REPORTER: Mr. President, are you confident you could avoid a rail strike?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The president, no shortage of questions coming his way. I want to get to CNN Senior White House Correspondent M.J. Lee. The to- do list, the must-list actually to get accomplished in this lame duck, it was already pretty long, M.J. Add another one, and that is averting this rail strike, if possible, within the next few days.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, we heard the president there ticking through everything that he would like to see Congress get done between now and essentially the end of the year, and you're right, that the rail strike looming large over the economy. That has been a big consideration for the White House. That is an urgent priority. And he wants Congress to get this done essentially so that they could sort of force all of the parties to agree to this framework that was agreed upon earlier this year. He has been very clear that if there is a strike, that would be disastrous for the economy.

I couldn't quite hear over the reporters shouting questions whether he said that he feels absolutely confident that this can be averted, but that is obviously the outcome that the White House is hoping for. He also mentioned there, as you heard, the importance of funding the government. He mentioned wanting more funding for COVID aid and also more aid for Ukraine. That's been a top priority for the White House.

And there are obviously other things that he didn't mention in these brief remarks. The same-sex marriage bill making its way through Capitol Hill, that is something that the White House wants the president to sign as soon as possible. The Electoral Count Act, which obviously was born out of former President Trump and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, that has been a top political priority as well.

The assault weapons ban, that is not something that we heard the president talk about in these brief remarks but we do know that even if the White House is keenly aware that votes aren't there right now to get that done between now and the end of year, it is still something that, politically speaking, he would like to keep talking about so that there is urgency there, so that he can make clear this remains top of mind for him.

And, again, as we were talking about earlier, this is all because Democrats are very much aware that come January, it is going to become a lot more difficult for Democrats to get anything done, to legislate, to govern. It is going to be a whole new Washington. So, between now and the end of the year, they want to use this time to get everything done that they can and cram in as much as they can.

GOLODRYGA: Priority right now is avoiding that rail strike.

SCIUTTO: They believe they have the votes on the same-sex marriage bill. Do they have the votes on the Electoral Count Act?

[10:55:01]

LEE: Yes, that is certainly what it appears like and it is just one of the things that they want to get done. And, again, it is just important to emphasize that this is, politically speaking, very important. So much of what the White House has talked about, what the president has talked about, was about protecting democracy. And so that is something that they really want to make sure they get done. And, obviously, looming over all of this is the dynamic that we saw recently of former president Donald Trump announcing another run for the presidency.

GOLODRYGA: We will continue to follow it all for us. M.J. Lee, thank you so much.

And thank you all for joining us on this busy Tuesday morning. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]