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Source: Trump's Lawyers Hired Team To Search Four Properties For Classified Docs; Warnock Wins In GA, Giving Democrats 51-49 Senate Majority; China Announces Sweeping Revisions To Dismantle "Zero-COVID" Policy; Measles Outbreak In Central Ohio Grows To More Than 50 Children, Driven By "Lack Of Vaccination". Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 07, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECH REPORTER: Well, I don't want my seatmate to be able to make noisy phone call right next to me. And there was even a White House petition to that effect around that time. And that ultimately led the FCC in 2017 to withdraw that proposal, when its chairman also cited those nuisance concerns. And so there are a lot of concerns, obviously, around 5G and whether or not it may pose interference to aircraft.

But it's also the case that Europe has had cell phone availability on airplanes for years now and so the reason why we don't have that same capability in the U.S. has a lot more to do with societal factors and questions about whether you want your seatmate to be making an annoying phone call, guys.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Sure don't.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Let's the Europeans have this. This is not a technology that I'm ready for right now.

BLACKWELL: Three hours with nowhere to go and just talking and talking.

GOLODRYGA: Just yapping and yapping and yapping next to you.

BLACKWELL: Like we are right now.

GOLODRYGA: Brian Fung ...

BLACKWELL: All right. Brian Fung, thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. New details in the search for classified documents in the former president's possession. Sources tell CNN that Trump's attorneys found at least two items marked classified inside a Florida storage unit. Development first reported by The Washington Post. And CNN has also learned that Trump has hired an outside team to search for locations for any materials that still may be missing. GOLODRYGA: Now, this is all amid lingering concerns of the Justice Department that not all documents have been returned to the federal government like the ones found at Mar-A-Lago. CNN's Kara Scannell has been covering this. You're with us last hour and here you are again. What more do we know about these latest developments?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Right. So as we said then, this story is moving quickly. So our colleague Sara Murray has confirmed The Washington Post reporting that when they searched this Florida storage unit, these Trump hired lawyers, searched the unit, they found that there were two documents with classified markings. Those materials were turned over to the FBI and the source tell Sara that those were the only documents with classified markings.

And as you said, they've searched for storage units according - or, excuse me, for locations according to our source, including Trump Tower, Bedminster the golf course and property in New Jersey and the storage unit. It's unclear what that fourth location is.

But - so they - we seem to have kind of narrow down here that they have found these two documents, classified markings that appears to be the limitations of the materials with classified mark. So we don't know what other materials were found, because, of course, there's this bigger question of other presidential records, personal records, this ongoing dispute.

But as far as the classified or the mark - the documents with classified markings, we now know that there are two and they've been turned over.

BLACKWELL: But what's the other side of this? Because we know the Special Counsel now is running the criminal investigation there. Of course, the National Archives trying to get these documents back. Are they just waiting for Trump attorneys to say, we found two here, we found another one there, are they ever going to - any indication going to actively proactively try to get more documents if they believe they're out there?

SCANNELL: I mean, we're seeing the judge in - a federal judge in Washington, D.C. kind of be pushing toward this. The reason why the Trump attorneys did this search is trying to satisfy the judge who has been putting some questions out there of what is the universe here. Have you got searched all this? Are you willing to come to court and tell me that you did?

So this is - I imagine the first element of this, we'll see what kind of behind the scenes conversations are going on between DOJ and the Trump's attorneys if they'll be forced to sign a sworn statement, which would put a lot more weight on that, a 0lot more pressure on the attorneys to attest to this.

I think we'll probably see from there if there's some concerns outstanding that they still need to do another search or they need to compel a subpoena or take further steps.

BLACKWELL: Yes. GOLODRYGA: Kara Scannell, you'll continue to follow this for us, thanks.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

All right. Senate Democrats are taking a victory lap today after strengthening their majority with last night's runoff victory in Georgia. They gained a 51st seat. Incumbent Raphael Warnock is projected to beat Republican Herschel Walker by just under three points.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Party leader say with Warnock's win, it is the first midterm since 1934 that every incumbent Democratic senator one while the party also holds the White House. Warnock also made history as the first African-American to hold a full term Senate seat in Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): It is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy, the people have spoken. You got me for six more years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Amara Walker is in Atlanta. Amara, the Republican blame game is on already.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Bianna, it is very much underway. And just quickly, this one extra seat may not sound like a lot, but it will have a significant impact on President Biden's agenda, especially when it comes to these committees with the Democrats now having a majority in the Senate.

[15:05:08]

They'll be able to process legislation and nominations much quicker.

Look, as you said, Democrats are celebrating. Republicans beating to finger point. We just heard from Utah senator, Mitt Romney, who spoke with our Lauren Fox off camera and he said this that Trump's endorsement is "the kiss of death." Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, had similar criticism for the MAGA wing of the party. While Lindsey Graham, he dismissed this criticism aimed at Donald Trump, defended him and his influence on this midterm election, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think we're losing close elections not because of Donald Trump. If the answer to everything in town is Trump's problem, then you're missing the boat. It's a complicated thing, but what stares me in the face more than anything else is the amount of money. It's hard to win a race when you're getting outspent three to one.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): A number of Republicans in the Senate and the House who are not MAGA Republicans, who know that if the Republican Party follows the hard right and the extreme members in their caucuses, that they'll continue to lose ground as they've lost ground in 2020 and they lost ground in 2022.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Now, Chuck Schumer there added that he will "strongly pursue" a way to work with the Republican-held House. Look, it's unclear, right, what factors played a role in Walker's loss, was it Warnock's ground game, was it Walker the candidate himself?

We do know that Raphael Warnock though expanded his lead 95,000 more votes than what Herschel Walker got, compared that to 37,000 vote, that slim margin that Warnock had in the general. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Amara Walker for us there in Georgia, thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And now for the President's reaction, CNN Chief White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly is with us.

Phil, what's been going on in the West Wing after Raphael Warnock's win? We saw that picture of the president on the phone calling Warnock. Clearly, a great night for the White House's perspective.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It was more or less a continuation, a celebration that started late on the night of November 8th that has really continued on. And White House officials to be clear, felt very good about this race heading into it. But certainly getting that final call, kind of put a capstone on an election season where they bucked history, they bucked what analysts were projecting.

And for the first time since 1934, the incumbent president, his party did not lose a single Senate seat in a midterm election. There is very real history here and very real beating of the odds. And I think when you talk to White House officials, look, all the technical details and procedural details Amara laid out about that 51st vote are very real and matter quite a bit, especially considering it will be divided government.

But I think there's a broader view of things right now as well in terms of validation to some degree about the President's agenda and the success that agenda had breaking through, sometimes success most people in the lead up to the first election data, the runoff Election Day weren't sure actually existed.

There's also the president's messaging when it came to Republicans, particularly Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump that they feel like resonated. You can hear some of that in that call between President Biden and Senator Raphael Warnock, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congratulations, buddy. Go get them.

WARNOCK: Thank you. This will make it easier for us to get things done (inaudible) ...

BIDEN: Sure, it will. I guarantee you it will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: "Easier for us to get some things done." Certainly on the nomination side, a little questionable on the legislative side more than anything else, though, another win and a capstone to a very positive election season for the White House.

GOLODRYGA: And Victor has promised me that this is the last election we'll be covering this year.

BLACKWELL: The last.

GOLODRYGA: So I'm going to hold him to that. Phil Mattingly, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

All right. Let's turn now to LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. LaTosha, always good to have you. Good to see you again. I want to talk about Sen. Warnock in a moment. But let me start with what Herschel Walker's son, Christian, tweeted last night as our entree into the conversation.

"Republicans say we don't play "identity politics" and then you ran this man mainly because he was the same skin color as his opponent with no background other than football, a boring old Republican could have won." I checked with our team who worked this campaign, this election for months and they say that they saw no targeted Walker outreach to black voters, none. The strategy must have been I'm black, they will come.

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER: Absolutely. I think that was part of the reason what actually drove black voters that it was actually insulting that the Republicans thought that all they had to do is pick somebody to pluck a man, a black man who had been an athlete and had been popular in his hay days and run him for office and that would be enough. And then - and also plan, I think, if you recall, right, prior to - in the midterms or plant this narrative that black men were disenchanted with the Democratic Party.

[15:10:00]

And I think that they thought that those two strategies combined together was actually going to lead to people just voting for Herschel Walker and that, in fact, that he would actually pull black voters to the ticket and we saw last night that that was absolutely not the case.

BLACKWELL: We saw that Trump in 2020, he earned 11 percent of black voters support in Georgia. If there had been a concerted effort to go into DeKalb County, into Fulton County, and target black voters, do you think that he could have gotten 11 percent of the black vote, Herschel Walker? BROWN: I'm not sure about that, because I think they're Herschel Walker bought another level of baggage with him as well. I think that on some level, Herschel Walker did some things that actually turned the black community off and black voters off.

And so while I certainly think he may have been able to get one or two more points, just recently, a few days ago, at his - and a week ago that he referred to himself, as he said that he was called a coon and that a coon is one of the most smart - is the smartest animal out there. That's a very racist derogatory term that has been hurled at black people in the South that we don't take well lightly of. And people were very upset, but very embarrassed and had very strong opinions of not wanting Herschel Walker to represent Georgia or particularly represent our community.

So I think that he had some other elements that worked against him. He also said that racism wasn't that bad. He minimize, right, the impacts of racism and I think all of those things played into why black voters overwhelmingly voted against him.

BLACKWELL: I had not heard that coon compliment remark in the campaign.

Let me ask you about Sen. Warnock now and this is a question I put to Abby Phillip at the top of the show. Is this not a binary choice here, but what's the driving force? More about what Sen. Warnock did, what Democrats did or about what Herschel Walker did not do and who he is not?

BROWN: I think there were three quick things I'll say. One, I think this was a around walk - the difference between Walker and Warnock as candidates. I think Warnock had shown himself that he actually had been a candidate that stood with the community that had been a vocal advocate for voting rights and other issues for our community and he certainly was a favorite son from Georgia, so I think that that was one element.

A second element, I think that you saw backlash from the voter suppression that when you look at even the difference, there's like a 97,000 point difference, vote difference between Walker and Warnock. When you look at on Election Day on that Saturday, when the Republicans, the Secretary of State wanted to prevent from - us from having Saturday voting, there were only nine - over 90,000 votes that were cast that day, right, alone.

And so you could - I think that there was a backlash from that. And the third thing is black voters are sophisticated voters. We have real issues and real needs that need to be addressed and it was it was very insulting that there was a candidate that didn't speak to it, we didn't know what his position on anything really other than how he felt about vampires and werewolves and that he was going to plan on supporting a national abortion ban.

BLACKWELL: All right. LaTosha Brown, always good to have you, thank you. GOLODRYGA: Herschel Walker's loss caps off a disappointing Midterm Election cycle for Republicans. The Party now has one less Senate seat than it did before and holds only a slim majority in the House. John Avlon is CNN Senior Political Analyst and Anchor, Margaret Hoover is a CNN Political Commentator. Welcome both of you.

John, let me begin with you. So now we've had four Raphael Warnock wins in two years, is it time to look at him as something in terms of party leader, the future of the party outside of Georgia itself? Has he earned that approach?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Look, I think that he's run the gauntlet in a swing state and a purple state. He's helped turn the tide in that state. I think Warnock can also be a figure who helps depolarize the role of faith in American politics and that's something we desperately need.

I mean, he is the lead pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church and to the extent that our faith has been - our politics have become polarized along faith lines, maybe that can help heal it. On the flip side, Donald Trump has owned three in Georgia runoffs in terms of his handpicked candidates.

But this is more than just Herschel Walker being a dumpster fire of a candidate. This is about Raphael Warnock building a broad coalition twice.

BLACKWELL: Control Room put up that slate of Trump-backed candidates in the swing states who've all lost. And Margaret, we just heard from Lindsey Graham, that if you're blaming Trump, you're missing the boat.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm just wondering what the boat is. Like, what are we missing here? It's pretty straightforward, ending with Herschel Walker every single candidate who threw their arms around Donald Trump and the conspiracy theories and the lies around the 2020 election has lost and that really - especially in a time where social media has proliferated lies, voters have been able to discern what's real and what's not and have made their views known and that is an enormous thing for me as a Republican who is somebody who does not support the liar who was the former president and wants the party to refresh and renew and move forward with substantive policy solutions to the problems that Americans face.

[15:15:04]

BLACKWELL: Breathe.

HOOVER: This is fabulous.

GOLODRYGA: Take a breath, yes.

BLACKWELL: (Inaudible) ...

GOLODRYGA: Okay. So I'm looking at a list of Republicans here, some to be expected in terms of criticizing the former president like Mitt Romney seeking to form - calling Trump - any endorsement from him a kiss of death.

AVLON: Kiss of death.

GOLODRYGA: Pat Toomey who's retiring said it's another reminder the Trump obsession is very bad for Republicans. Sen. Cornyn says I think he's less relevant all the time. And yet we hear Lindsey Graham going with the Trump line, which is if my candidate wins, it's because of me, if they don't, it's not because of me. What do you make of that and do you think that we now have to hear what Mitch McConnell says about this?

AVLON: I think Mitch McConnell is in a unique position to help be a tipping point. I think he pulled his punch in the second impeachment and probably regrets it. But I think, look, I think Lindsey Graham traded in a lot of his credibility as an independent actor when he - after warning that backing Donald Trump would mean that the party would lose and they would deserve to lose and seeing that come up. He still, I think, is afraid of Donald Trump or afraid of the base and I think that's what's motivating a lot of this.

The problem with Trump is I think people are getting a little bit quick, the fever is breaking. That's the good news. But if you have five people run for president and Trump's got 30 percent of the Republican primary base, he's going to win those winner take all primary, so Republicans got to take responsibility for that ahead of time.

HOOVER: I just feel like you're listening to me.

AVLON: Occasionally, I have.

GOLODRYGA: Miracles do happen.

BLACKWELL: Occasionally. Let me ask you think renewal that you're calling for the party, Republicans did that after Romney lost and there was this autopsy, there was this whole thing (inaudible) ...

HOOVER: (Inaudible) ...

BLACKWELL: ... and then elected Donald Trump.

HOOVER: Well, I guess they were wrong about the renewal. They renewed in the wrong direction.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. But in some ways, I mean, Donald Trump was radically different from all the other 15 candidates he stood up on that stage against. And he did catalyze a populist (inaudible) in the electorate, frankly, that was previous Democrats and Republicans.

What Donald Trump has shown himself to be since then, particularly after January 6, is somebody who doesn't care about the Constitution. And the question Republicans are facing now is actually far more dire than they faced in 2015 2016. Many of them flirt with re nominating a man who would easily throw away the Constitution.

AVLON: Yes. GOLODRYGA: Yes.

HOOVER: And has said so and has demonstrated that he's willing to. And so are Republicans going to be morally courageous and do what is right for the perpetuation of our democracy?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Paul Gosar tweeted today he stands by the former president and that's Paul Gosar.

HOOVER: Right. Right.

AVLON: That's Paul Gosar.

BLACKWELL: But he is saying out loud.

GOLODRYGA: We're not hearing the condemnation ...

BLACKWELL: No.

GOLODRYGA: ... that no one would have expected as loudly.

HOOVER: Even worse, what you're hearing is we can't be for Trump again. I was never, never Trumper they say, but I'm a never Trumper again now.

GOLODRYGA: Y.

HOOVER: Okay. Why, they say, because Trump doesn't win. Well, we just saw Trump didn't win in this midterm election, but Trump is - to use a Napoleon metaphor kind of in Elba, I think he's reconstituting his base of support. I truly believe there is no reason, sorry, it's a (inaudible) ...

AVLON: I appreciate a good Napoleon reference.

HOOVER: ... reference for John Avlon. But truly ...

GOLODRYGA: A dinner table conversation at your house.

HOOVER: ... for anyone to suggest that this person who has demonstrated he plays a bad hand well. To think that he's off the table is naive and so I just - I think it's incumbent upon Republicans to make the moral case against the man who scraps the Constitution, not just because he's not a winner.

AVLON: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So let's put Trump aside for a minute and talk about what - because this wasn't a crucial do or die vote for Democrats.

AVLON: Mm-hm.

GOLODRYGA: But having that extra Democrat there, that 51st seat helps them ...

AVLON: Huge. GOLODRYGA: ... enormously.

AVLON: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Talk about how.

AVLON: Well, look, first of all, it means that you - Democrats are going to control committees, they can have subpoena power, they can fast track legislation and nomination, but it's still divided government, let's not ignore that. And so they're going to have to find a way to reach out. And I would say the opportunity and the obligation for Democrats and Republicans who want to be real constitutional conservatives, not just in name only is going to be - find some areas of common ground starting with this lame duck, things like the Electoral Count Act to make sure an attempt to overturn an election isn't successful, again, Afghan Adjustment Act, things like the debt ceiling, deal with that.

And then plot out a couple of big areas where we just might be able to find bipartisan reform in the coming year, maybe immigration reform, I'll be an eternal optimist, maybe algorithm reform, civics education, that's my wish list. But there are areas where we can reason together and it's up to the leaders in both parties to show that they're committed to defending our democracy.

HOOVER: How about this, if John Avlon and I can agree on all the issues you just said, you can get 60 votes in the Senate.

BLACKWELL: All right.

GOLODRYGA: There you go.

BLACKWELL: We shall see.

HOOVER: That's all you need, 60 votes.

AVLON: That's it.

BLACKWELL: John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, thank you.

AVLON: Thanks, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Well, after unprecedented protests, a big reversal from China announcing that it will ease some of the country's strict COVID restrictions.

BLACKWELL: And a concerning measles outbreak among children here in the U.S., the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:13]

BLACKWELL: China is changing the way it manages COVID-19 after extraordinary public backlash. The government is officially abandoning its zero infection policies. GOLODRYGA: Yes. This is a big about face from China. The restrictions lead to far reaching travel bans, economic turmoil and most recently unprecedented protests. CNN's Ivan Watson has more on the changes. Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the first time in months, the Chinese government has announced a relaxation, significant relaxation of its strict zero COVID policies and that's triggered some real excitement, for example, a surge in enquiries about plane tickets for internal travel. And why is it so important? Because look at some of the changes.

[15:25:00]

For example, the government says that no longer will people need to be required to get negative PCR tests to go into public places like shopping mall, for example. Previously, a lot of cities required people to line up and get tests every 48 hours just to do things like travel on public transport or to go to public places.

Asymptomatic COVID cases, people with mild symptoms and close contacts of COVID cases are no longer going to be bundled off to government quarantine, where there have been reports of kind of poor accommodations, poor food, poor sanitary conditions. They can now do home quarantine.

And another big change is the lifting of restrictions on travel between regions and provinces. So I spoke with a friend in Shanghai and told her about this for the first time and she said this is wonderful. I can go travel to see my parents who I haven't seen in another province in months now.

There is a flipside to some of this excitement and that is that the Chinese government has been warning about the fears, the dangers of COVID for years now. And now suddenly, the narrative is changing, and it's saying, hey, this new variant is milder, you can live with it. There are still prominent fears in the population. There is a run on over the counter medicines for fever and respiratory illnesses, for example, at pharmacies.

But there are some real threats as well, epidemiologists are warning that there are large numbers of Chinese that are very vulnerable to COVID. For example, 23 percent of citizens over 80 are completely unvaccinated. That's like 8.4 million people now at risk. China is trying to rush out vaccines to these vulnerable parts of the population right now. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Ivan.

Well, back here in the U.S. a measles outbreak in Ohio is worsening. More than 50 children have been infected, some needing hospitalization. And public health officials report that none of the kids have been fully vaccinated.

Joining us now Dr. Mysheika Roberts. She is the health commissioner in Columbus. Dr. Roberts, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about this really important issue right now that you were dealing with. So we know that some of these children visited a grocery store, a church and department stores in a mall while they were contagious.

Given how infectious this virus is, how concerned are you that this outbreak will spread quickly?

MYSHEIKA ROBERTS, COLUMBUS PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSIONER: Thanks for having me, Bianna, and good afternoon.

I'm very concerned. Measles is a disease that here in the United States we had effectively eliminated back in 2000. But because we have so many individuals who are eligible, but unvaccinated we're having a spread here in Columbus. Measles is highly contagious, so if you were in one of those locations and not vaccinated you're at risk.

We first started seeing this outbreak appear in daycare centers where we obviously have very vulnerable individuals because we have some kids who are under the age of one and they're too young to get vaccinated.

GOLODRYGA: How long do you think it will take to get this outbreak under control?

ROBERTS: I wish I have the answer to that. Most measles outbreaks that we've seen happen here in the United States have lasted several months. We're into week four right now. So I'm anticipating this going on for at least several more weeks and I'm expected our numbers to grow in those - in that time period as well.

GOLODRYGA: You talk about the vaccine, it is 97 percent effective if children get both doses. I believe it's 93 percent efficacy rate if you just have one dose. How worrisome is it though, for those children like those who were hospitalized who had not been vaccinated?

ROBERTS: Yes, you're absolutely correct about the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine. It's one of the safest and most effective vaccines we have. And almost 50 percent of our cases have been hospitalized, which is a very high percentage. CDC estimates that individuals who get measles about 25 percent will get hospitalized. We've seen a much higher rate of hospitalization here in our community, that's likely due to the lower age of our patients. The majority of our cases of measles in this outbreak are between the ages of one and two years of age and they've required hospitalization from - anything from dehydration to diarrhea, to pneumonia, and some of them have even spent some time in the intensive care unit, so measles can be very serious.

GOLODRYGA: And this is coming at a time in hospitals, they're already under strain, especially pediatric hospitals with children coming in with RSV and flu. For those parents who have vaccinated their children and are concerned that they may be around some of these kids who do have measles, should they be concerned? Is it contagious for somebody who has been vaccinated?

ROBERTS: Yes. So those individuals who have been vaccinated should not be concerned. They should follow all the normal respiratory etiquette we always say during this time of year.

[15:30:04]

Stay home if you're sick, cover your cough, cover your sneeze and try to avoid being around sick people.