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263,000 Jobs Added in November; U.S. Gas Now Cheaper Than Before Russia Invaded Ukraine; Court Halts Special Master Review of Mar-a-Lago Docs; Obama Makes Second Visit to Atlanta to Campaign for Senator Warnock; Biden to Meet with Prince William in Boston. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:01:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto. We begin with good economic news.

The new jobs reports just in to CNN. They show the U.S. economy added some 263,000 jobs in November. That above forecast and defying aggressive rate hike action from the Federal Reserve to try to cool the economy. Also bring down decades high inflation. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent.

GOLODRYGA: CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now.

So, Christine, in any other circumstance, this would be a really hot economy and a positive report. That having been said, the hope is for this economy is to cool a little bit. What do you make of this?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's when good news isn't quite so good. Any other period of type, this would be blockbuster shout from the rooftops. The U.S. economy is so strong here and the job market, but the White House, the Fed, Wall Street, main street even, wanted to see this cool a little bit so a strong job market doesn't spin off inflation that's harder to crack. 263,000 jobs added and the month before was revised higher. 3.7 percent unemployment rate. Still very close to that band that is near a 50- year low.

Now where there's some good news. You see that trend there. You are seeing a slight cooling month after month. These numbers are going in the right direction, but still from a very strong level here. And wages grew 5.1 percent, more than 5 percent. A lot of people had expected those wages to start cooling down. The bottom line here is the economy is trying to transition out of this COVID crash and get to a more normal level, but the job market is just still strong.

Third quarter, the economy grew 2.9 percent. You are seeing signs of inflation starting to cool, but the consumer is still really driving things forward. So what I've learned about the economy this week is it is showing a really robust strength here at a time when the Fed is trying to slow it down so that inflation isn't a permanent problem.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. We are expecting another rate hike later this month from the Federal Reserve as well.

ROMANS: That's right.

GOLODRYGA: Christine Romans, we'll take this good news.

ROMANS: Nice to see you. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: It's a really strong jobs report.

ROMANS: Exactly.

GOLODRYGA: Well, gas prices are falling across the country. Also good news here. Today's average hitting $3.45 a gallon, finally returning below where prices where when Russia invaded Ukraine back in January. And it's down 30 cents from just last month -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: I mean, I remember it was above five bucks, you know, earlier this summer.

CNN correspondent Pete Muntean, he's outside a gas station in Alexandria, Virginia. There's even talk now that some states have already dipped below $3 a gallon. What's driving them down?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the recession fears are the biggest driver right now, Jim. Remember, it's a global market, and oil is so sensitive to so many things. What's so interesting here is that $3.45, the national average, think back to where we were on February 24th. That was $3.54. So we are now below what we saw when Russia invaded Ukraine and it causes these gas prices to go up and up and up.

We're hearing now from analysts is that things are really starting to stabilize. We have seen a 13 cent drop in just the last week. There are some uncertainty here even still, though. Remember there are COVID fears and lockdowns still in China. There are concerns about what the recession will do. There are concerns about what OPEC policy could do. So we're not totally out of the woods just yet, although the prices are going down and that is good news for consumers.

We are hearing from some analysts who say that we may see prices go down even further by the end of the year. Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy says we could see the national average of a gallon of regular down to about $3.29, maybe even $3.20. That should be a good Christmas gift for a lot of folks.

Remember where we were back on June 14th, $5.01. That was the all-time high average for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA. We've gone down about $1.50 since, down 3 percent in total. Pretty incredible that we're standing here now considering that we were here not that long ago talking about those really big highs.

[09:05:03] GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that was a major concern for so many Americans. This of course is welcome news for those now heading out for the holiday season.

Pete Muntean, thank you.

Well, this morning, former President Trump's legal team is facing a new deadline after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court halted a third party review of documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home. The court gave Trump's team seven days to respond.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we'll see if this speeds up the overall case investigations. CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid joins us now.

So this, when you go back to this, it really is a rebuke of U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon's order appointing the special master, attracted all that attention a number of weeks ago. So what does it mean for the broader investigation of the documents?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's a big win for newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith because this removes an obstacle to one of his key investigations. I mean, here this so-called special master, this was a third party who was appointed to go through the thousands of documents that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago and determine what if anything was privileged and needed to be kept from investigators.

Well, that process slows down the entire investigation. And we had a pretty good idea that this wasn't going to go well for the former president based on the oral arguments. I was down there in Atlanta, and sometimes, Jim, it's hard to tell which way a panel is leaning but these were three GOP appointed judges. Two appointed by Trump himself. And it was clear from the questions they were asking that they were concerned about the idea that someone could just come in and interfere with an investigation like this, especially in a case where a warrant has not been found to be invalid.

Now, the interesting to see, now that they have struck out with these three judges, if Trump's legal team decides to appeal because I think most legal experts say it's unlikely that they would ultimately prevail, but as we know the former president has very effectively used delay as a strategy and appeal would at least give him more time.

SCIUTTO: Even if he expects to lose, time, he might calculate, is on his side.

The other development is now the testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Deputy Patrick Philbin, they're going to have to testify.

REID: Exactly. We know in addition to using delay, stonewalling is another technique he's used for decades. And in the context of these investigations, he has tried to very liberally and creatively apply some of his privileges, be it attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. Now these two former White House lawyers, they had previously testified before the grand jury, but there were some questions they wouldn't answer, citing privilege.

But now a judge has thrown that out. We do expect that will be appealed. And look, it was a bad day for the former president in court. But as we have seen over the past few years he can have some bad days, right, but in the long arc of these investigations, things still tend to fall his way. But he's no longer president, and even former Trump officials will tell you that the facts particularly in the Mar-a-Lago investigation are concerning for his legal team.

SCIUTTO: As you note, in a lot of these cases, Trump appointed judges who are deciding against him.

REID: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: Paula Reid, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams and Kirsten Powers columnist for "USA Today."

Elliot, lots of developments as always in the legal sphere. I do want to drill down on this one about Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin now having to testify. The court rejecting Trump's arguments, really just a broad executive privilege and attorney-client privilege claim there. These guys know what the president told them in those crucial moments during the attempts to overturn the election. How crucial, how impactful do you think their testimony might be?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think very, Jim. As former lawyers and senior White House staffers, these two individuals are entitled to lots of privileges potentially based on their relationship and the jobs they had, right. And so certainly, there was an open question as to whether any statements that they would have made would have been protected.

Look, a court has looked at it and said that you can't just have a blanket privilege merely by having worked in the White House. By virtue of those jobs, exactly as your question asked, Jim, they would have been privy to any number of very sensitive matters that could be quite useful to this investigation. So certainly you don't get the sense that if these two do come in, that they'll stonewall or be quite difficult as witnesses, but you know, there's no way -- they're very consequential folks.

GOLODRYGA: So, Kirsten, this decision coupled with the 11th Circuit Court's decision to halt the special master reviewing those documents and rebuking that federal judge, Aileen Cannon, definitely a legal setback to say the least for the former president. That having been said, what does it mean for him politically in terms of his bid for re-election?

KIRSTEN POWERS, COLUMNIST, USA TODAY: You know, I tend to think that these things are first of all kind of baked in. At this point, if you aren't aware of what the president has done in terms of January 6th, the former president, in terms of January 6th, in terms of taking these documents, you know, I guess you're just not following the news at all. And so it's probably baked in for his very, very core supporters.

You know, the question is, how does it affect people who are more in the middle, who, you know, aren't that enthusiastic about him in the first place?

[09:10:08]

It's just another thing against him, but like I said, they already know that this is happening, and to a certain extent, for people who really like Donald Trump, he can actually use this to his benefit because it's like, it's his whole schtick, right? That he's always being persecuted and that he's always being mistreated and that's, you know, sort of part of his constant story. I mean, he's just sent a video to a group of people who were January 6th rioters, who are claiming they're being persecuted by the legal system. So we can see very much where he's aligning himself and he's continuing with this kind of grievance politics.

SCIUTTO: Elliot, the other development, of course, the January 6th Committee meeting today, whether to make criminal referrals and they've got a couple of categories here to decide on. One, on the five Republican lawmakers who refuse to cooperate with their subpoenas. That, by the way, includes the possible future speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, but also criminal referral of Trump.

I mean, DOJ has got its own investigation underway right now. It's going to make its own decision. Is it January 6th Committee criminal referral, does that carry weight?

WILLIAMS: No, it doesn't. Look, there are two things can be true, Jim. Number one, it's a very powerful, important, symbolic step for Congress to make a criminal referral of somebody they think has broken the law, but also that it just doesn't matter to the Justice Department. Legally, it is a step that the Justice Department doesn't have to rely on. And look, think of it this way, our country takes actions all the time that are symbolic but very important.

Think about every inauguration, you know, nothing in the Constitution says there has to be a big party on the steps of the Capitol with all of the former presidents and members of Congress, but it's an important symbol that people around the world see. It's sort of the same thing and this would be -- issuing criminal referrals would be Congress flexing its muscles as a co-equal branch of government, but at the end of the day the Justice Department does not need to consider it, and as you've seen already they've already charged folks without referrals from Congress. So we'll see what they do today. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So, Kirsten, this comes as we're expecting by the end of the year to get the January 6th Committee's final report. There's been a bit of inside politics and grievances internally playing out the last few weeks. Overall, though, they have been pretty much in lockstep in this bipartisan committee, we should note. What are you looking for to stand out and what will you be watching the most in this final report?

POWERS: Well, I mean, what's happening is basically, you have Liz Cheney very much driving the idea that this should be completely focused on Donald Trump, right, almost like a legal brief. And then you have other people who are saying we need to focus on Donald Trump but we also need to focus on in the future, you know, how are we -- the things that are happening that, you know, could potentially cause this to happen again in the future, like talking about militia or dark money or things like that.

And so that has to be kind of reconciled, but one of the problems for them is that they have this deadline hanging over them. They have to get it done because the Republicans are about to take over Congress and they're going to lose their funding. So there's not a lot of time to really be hashing this out, and I guess if I had to put my money on somebody, it's probably Liz Cheney, but yes, it will be interesting to see whether or not this is something that is just really focused on making the case against Donald Trump or if it's a broader, you know, a broader report that's taking a more holistic look at the problem.

GOLODRYGA: And of course, Kevin McCarthy has already promised that once they take control, Republicans take control of the House, that they will launch an investigation into the January 6th Committee's investigation.

POWERS: Right.

GOLODRYGA: So politics as usual there. Elliot Williams, Kirsten Powers, thank you.

WILLIAMS: Thanks.

POWERS: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, this afternoon, President Biden heads to Boston, and a visit with the prince of Wales is on the agenda. Details on that trip straight ahead.

Plus, Elon Musk suspends Kanye West's Twitter account yet again after this bizarre appearance where he made a series once again of hateful comments praising Hitler and antisemitic comments. There's news that another deal West has in the works is also canceled.

SCIUTTO: Also ahead, team USA's captain, Christian Pulisic, is on track to play tomorrow. That's great news. We're going to speak live with a major league soccer player who also played on the U.S. men's national team about the big World Cup match against the Netherlands. That's tomorrow. I'm going to be watching. I bet you will, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:44]

SCIUTTO: This morning, the White House is applauding the Supreme Court's decision to hear oral arguments on President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. That plan would offer up to $20,000 of debt relief to borrowers.

GOLODRYGA: And about 26 million Americans had already applied before it was suspended nearly two weeks ago. A decision in the case is expected by June 2023, which would coincide with when payments are now set to resume.

SCIUTTO: Today is the last day of early voting in Georgia before Tuesday's Senate runoff and already nearly 1.5 million ballots have been cast. That's so far. Clearly, people like the early voting. New CNN polling out today shows an advantage for the Democratic candidate, Senator Raphael Warnock. 52 percent of likely voters say they're supporting Warnock. 48 percent say they support the Republican candidate Herschel Walker.

GOLODRYGA: And yesterday, former President Barack Obama made a second visit to Atlanta to stump with Warnock.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Atlanta at the polling center.

Dianne, how are the lines looking where you are right now?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so exactly -- as we're looking about an hour wait at this particular location. Voting rights groups said that they were concerned that people will see excessively long lines on this final day of early voting here in Georgia.

[09:20:06]

And look, we're on this compressed four-week timeframe for this runoff period because of that new law, and so there were only five mandatory state-wide days of early voting. And look, Georgia has been breaking single-day turnout records this week, but right now even with that nearly 1.5 million voters, they're not on pace to meet the number of the voters that voted early in the 2021 runoff, and that's likely because of that compressed timeframe.

Now, look, you mentioned that polling that CNN did that said that 48 percent of those likely voters supported Herschel Walker, but there was key in that that said that only 27 percent of those voters found him to be well-qualified. That is something that the Warnock campaign has hinged a lot of their attacks on, saying that he's not ready for the job. And look, Warnock campaign super surrogate former President Obama last night had some jokes on his trip to Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Since the last time I was here, Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia. Like whether it's better to be a vampire or a werewolf.

This is a debate that I must confess I once had myself, when I was 7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, Herschel Walker, the Republican, his campaign has instead said that Senator Warnock trying to tie him to Joe Biden unpopular policies for some voters here in the state of Georgia. Walker held a rally last night with Senator Lindsey Graham in Woodstock, Georgia.

And look, Jim, Bianna, one more thing, it was actually codified into law, that new law that compressed the runoff period, though, that for the first time here in Georgia, it is official if you are in line when the polls do close today, you can stay in line and get your vote counted.

SCIUTTO: Every last vote counts. Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: In just a few short hours, President Biden will depart the White House for Boston where he will meet with William, the prince of Wales.

SCIUTTO: The meeting will take place at the JFK Library and Museum. Directly after Biden will participate in an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers phone bank followed by a Democratic fundraiser.

For more on the president's plans today including the royal chapter, CNN's MJ Lee is at the White House this morning.

He's meeting with the royals but the trip also has something to do with the runoff in Georgia. What is that?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the royals, union workers and a fundraiser. It's a pretty diverse day for the president. He is going to leave for Boston in just a couple of hours. But the White House did just announce a scheduling update. He is going to be speaking in the next hour. We will see him signing this bill that passed on Capitol Hill this week to avert a rail strike. This, of course, was a big priority for the White House economically speaking.

We should also hear him address the new jobs report that just came out. But you're right. When he gets to Boston his first stop is going to be the JFK Library where he is going to meet with the prince of Wales. For any royals fans, we are told that the princess of Wales will not be participating in this meeting. But the couple is in town and in the country to promote a big climate change initiative. That, of course, is a big issue of priority for the president.

And then his second stop is a phone bank with union workers followed by in the evening a DSCC fundraiser where the funds are going to go toward supporting Raphael Warnock. This, of course, is the big runoff race in Georgia that we have been talking so much about that is going to take place next Tuesday.

You know, the White House and Democrats have been very happy about the midterm election results and the fact that Democrats are going to be keeping the Senate, but they also say that there's a huge difference between 51 seats and 50, and they want to get to that 51. They know that that's going to make a big difference politically, so that's something that the White House is keeping a very close eye on heading into next week.

SCIUTTO: I couldn't take my eyes off that little boy meeting the royals there in his full British outfit and the bear skin hat. That was quite a moment. GOLODRYGA: He was really cute, right? MJ, thank you. We'll come back

to you at the White House when the president does sign that legislation averting a rail strike later this morning. Thank you.

Well, still ahead, a new study shows the stunning impact that the pandemic has had on teenagers' brains. How the stress and anxiety likely aged their brains faster than usual. We'll talk about it after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:18]

GOLODRYGA: Well, if you have the strange desire to see what Kanye West is tweeting today, I would try to think of something else to do. But if you must, this is actually what you would see. His account suspended early this morning after Elon Musk said that he violated Twitter's rules on inciting violence. CNN could not confirm which specific tweet prompted West's suspension, nor will we show the hateful post of an altered image of a swastika wrapped inside the Star of David.

Musk's response, "I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended."

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy is following all of this. You can just sense the disgust in my voice here, talking about this once again because I'm afraid that we'll normalize this conversation which in 2022 is ridiculous that we're even having, but yet again.