Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Fusion Energy Breakthrough; Monster Winter Storm; Special Master in Mar-a-Lago Case Scrapped; Congress Tries to Avert Government Shutdown. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 12, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: And says she made a personal connection with every crew member on board.

Right now, the president and the first lady spreading some holiday spirit, inviting a special guest on stage to read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" at a Toys For Tots event in Virginia. They were joined by families of service members to sort through donated toys. That's a great event.

Thanks for your time today on INSIDE POLITICS. We will see you tomorrow.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and thanks so much for being with us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Do you have your holiday budget sorted out? Yes? Then that puts you on better footing than Congress right now. If lawmakers can't hash out a spending deal in the next five days or so, brace for a government shutdown.

Today, some signs Democrats and Republicans are easing off their game of chicken. We will tell you where the talks stand.

And we're tracking dangerous weather bearing down on millions of people right now; 16 states are under alert. We have the latest forecast.

Plus, nuclear scientists just made a huge breakthrough that brings us one step closer to the Holy Grail of clean energy. We will explain.

First to Washington, where time is running out to avert a government shutdown.

And CNN's Jessica Dean joins us from Capitol Hill.

Jessica, what are the sticking points right now? And what are the chances this all gets sorted out before that Friday deadline?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of layers here, Ana, so let me just walk you through this week. What we do know is, over the weekend, the negotiations, we're told,

inched closer to some resolution, but they are still billions of dollars apart on the top-line number. And what that means is, just what's the number that they're going to spend? What is the number going to be?

Republicans and Democrats still very far apart on that? You mentioned the funding deadline for this Friday. They have another option, though. They could pass a short-term funding bill that would give them a little more time before this year runs out.

And that is generally the consensus we're getting from everyone, is that that is the most likely scenario, and that it is very unlikely that there will be a government shutdown. So that is the good news, at this point, very unlikely there will be a government shutdown on Friday. They will most likely pass the short-term funding bill, which then gets us to the next layer of all of this.

What do they do after that? What we know is that the top negotiators on the committees, both Republican and Democrat, want a deal. We know that Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer want a deal. Nancy Pelosi wants a deal. They want to do this full funding package. It's the most robust and easiest, most efficient way to fund the government.

If they can't get that done -- and they really have until, say, December 23, so not that much time -- if they can't get that done, then they could do another kind of short-term funding bill and kick the can down the road.

The wrinkle there is, remember, in January, that is when Republicans will take over the House. So, right now, Democrats still have all levers of government in their hands. They would like to get this done. Also, if they are able to pass this funding package, they will be able to change the funding of the government to kind of suit their priorities.

That's something that's been very important to them. If they don't do that, if they just do another short-term or a continuing -- what's called a continuing resolution, but it's just a continuation of what already exists, then it really sets the government funding at these same levels, which is something that's not appealing to a lot of people involved in this process.

So, Ana, again, all of that information is to say the bottom line is they are inching ever closer. We don't expect a government shutdown on Friday, but we do expect them to try to give themselves a little more time with a short-term funding bill to try to get this larger package done before the end of the year.

CABRERA: OK, we will be tracking all of that. Thank you, Jessica Dean.

Let's stay in Washington. We're tracking high-profile moves from the new special counsel leading the federal probes tied to former President Trump. And he could start picking up the pace, because, today, a major hurdle for the Justice Department has been removed. That third-party review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago was officially scrapped.

Our senior crime and justice correspondent, Katelyn Polantz, is in Washington, and CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig is here with us in New York.

Katelyn, explain what today's special master dismissal means for that probe into the Mar-a-Lago documents.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Right.

Well, this is a procedural step that this judge had no other choice but to grant to get rid of this case, to get rid of the special master review of documents. But it does have major implications for the Justice Department. It's a pretty big moment for them, because, up until this point, Donald Trump had successfully cordoned off about 22,000 documents that were taken out of Mar-a-Lago as part of the search and seizure there.

And what was happening, because he was in court, because there was a judge in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon, and there was -- appointing a special master, and there was all of this litigation around that, those pieces of evidence were not available to the Justice Department. And those pieces of evidence are the things that were found in and around classified -- or records or records that were marked with classification statuses on them at Mar-a-Lago.

[13:05:00]

So it's really important that the Justice Department gets to have access to that evidence now. This also shuts down that proceeding in Florida that had been one of the only things that was going well for Donald Trump in his attempts to challenge or put the brakes on the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation.

And all of this is coming as special counsel Jack Smith is stepping in to manage these prosecutors who have been working on both the Mar-a- Lago investigation and the January 6 investigation for some time now.

So, that work is going to continue on and the Mar-a-Lago investigation, we will be -- we're watching very closely now that they have access to everything that was seized.

CABRERA: OK, one thing at least checked off the list.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

Elie, special counsel Jack Smith been making some moves that seem like he's moving pretty quickly here, and it could pick up pace, we're told, because that's done, and he could be coming back to the U.S. He's been overseas recovering from a bike injury. So walk us through all the key indicators and what they tell you.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Ana, he has been busy.

This is exactly what you would expect to see out of an investigation that is aggressive and fast-moving. And, let's remember, Jack Smith has only been special counsel for three weeks and change. And, in that time, we have seen a real flurry of activity, starting in the grand jury. We have seen grand jury testimony.

We haven't seen the testimony, but we know that Pat, Cipollone Stephen Miller, other key Trump White House aides have gone into the grand jury and testified. Now, most of that was already in the works when Jack Smith took over, but he certainly did not hit the brakes.

We also are seeing an expanding financial investigation. We know now there's been a subpoena on the Save America PAC and other Trump- affiliated entities. We also know -- Katelyn Polantz just talked to us about the motion on the special master.

Now, we know that, just days after Jack Smith took over, DOJ told the judge that special counsel Jack Smith is already read up on those legal issues. So, clearly, he is a quick study.

And, finally, Ana, last week, we saw that DOJ under Jack Smith asked the judge, Judge Beryl Howell, on the Mar-a-Lago case to hold Donald Trump's legal team in contempt of court. Now, that was probably a step too far. The judge said, no, that's not necessary now. You all need to work this out yourself.

But we have seen a lot of activity, Ana. And, as you said, he's doing this all from a hospital in Europe. Apparently, he had some sort of bike accident. So, apparently, he moves quickly.

CABRERA: And so talk to us about how this investigation led by Smith compares to a prior Trump investigation by a prior special counsel, Robert Mueller.

HONIG: Yes.

So, we all remember Robert Mueller They have the same title. They were both called special counsel. But the similarities really sort of end when you get beyond there. First of all, Robert Mueller had one job. It was to investigate alleged interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

Now, that's a big job, a lot of different tentacles, but it was all under one heading. Jack Smith has been given two jobs, two very distinct jobs, to investigate January 6 and the Mar-a-Lago documents. Those are completely separate conduct. Really, the only thing they have in common is this guy, Donald Trump.

Now, there also are differences in the way that they're going about their investigation. So, we now know from Katelyn's new reporting and the team that Jack Smith has about 20 prosecutors working on the January 6 piece of the case. That's more prosecutors than Robert Mueller had -- ever had.

We also know that Jack Smith has been adding new resources from within DOJ, whereas Robert Mueller sort of set himself up on an island separate from DOJ. And we know Jack Smith has been integrating on the fly. This investigation has continued. Robert Mueller really had to start from square one. So there are very different investigative and procedural postures here.

CABRERA: Let's not lose the forest through the trees here.

HONIG: Yes.

CABRERA: Just remind us what a special counsel is and the powers they have.

HONIG: Special counsel does not have magical superpowers. In fact, the primary superpower a special counsel has is, they're federal prosecutors.

There's a little bit of difference, though, in the level of independence that they have. So here's out of the special counsel regulations. First of all, the special counsel is not subject to the day-to-day supervision of the attorney general. They have to notify the A.G. of significant events. Certainly, that would include an indictment.

And, really importantly, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, can overrule the special counsel, but he has to give the special counsel's recommendation great weight, meaning he has to sort of defer, but not necessarily give way to, the special counsel.

Now, this is really important. If that happens, if Jack Smith says, I want to indict and Merrick Garland says no, or vice versa, that has to be reported to Congress, maybe not right away. But if that happens, we will know it. The other thing is, it's hard to fire a special counsel, can only be for misconduct or other good cause.

And, ultimately, a special counsel has to file a written a report with the A.G., which the A.G. can then give over to Congress or make public. We all remember the Mueller report. Someday, we may see a Jack Smith report.

CABRERA: And so set expectations for us. How long could all this take?

HONIG: One of the great luxuries of being a prosecutor, Ana, is, you get to make your own timetable, for the most part. Sometimes, situations force your hand, but, for the most part, it's up to you.

We don't know. It's really impossible to forecast. But we do know this. Jack Smith and Merrick Garland are very aware of the need for speed here. When Jack Smith was appointed, he issued a brief official statement, but he said -- quote -- "The pace of investigations will not pause or flag under my watch."

[13:10:08]

Jack Smith clearly understands that they need to move as quickly as possible.

CABRERA: OK, Elie Honig, thank you, as always.

HONIG: Thanks, Ana. All right.

CABRERA: Also on the DOJ's plate tied to January 6, a seditious conspiracy sequel.

A trial is under way for a second group of alleged Oath Keepers members charged with his very serious crime. And it comes less than two weeks after federal prosecutors secured a historic conviction on that same seditious conspiracy charge for leaders of this far right group.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us with more now.

Whitney, how does this Oath Keepers trial differ from the first one?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this case really focuses on the lower member -- lower-level members of the Oath Keepers.

And this presents a new challenge for DOJ. The first trial focused on leadership. And, remember, DOJ's argument here is that there was a specific plan in place prior to January 6 to storm the Capitol and attempt to overturn the election, in other words, the very basis of the seditious conspiracy charge.

However, only two of five defendants in that trial were convicted of that charge. Prosecutors struggled to overcome testimony from several civilian defendants, including other members of the Oath Keepers, who repeatedly said there was no explicit plan to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

All four defendants in this second phase have pleaded not guilty. Opening statements are set to begin in the next few minutes, Ana.

CABRERA: And there's also another pivotal legal battle over a charge we have seen a lot in these January 6 prosecutions, obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

So explain what's at stake here.

WILD: Well, a federal appeals court is hearing arguments today about whether or not the Justice Department can use a felony obstruction charge.

And that charge that is at issues here is typically used when they're talking about the evidence tampering cases for prosecutions brought against some of these January 6 Capitol rioters. And judges really questioned whether that charge is applicable to these riot-related prosecutions.

As DOJ moves through these cases, and, in general, any cases, they always want the maximum weight of the law behind them. That helps them get valuable information from defendants. It sometimes helps them obtain a plea deal if they can say, look, you might face 20 years, 30 years behind bars.

So, Ana, they really need as much power as possible when they are moving through these cases. And if the appeals court decides that this charge doesn't work here, that's taking away an option to pursue a pretty heavy charge, one that in this specific case can carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Whitney Wild, thank you.

A monster winter storm is barreling across the U.S. It already buried parts of the West under several feet of snow. Now it's heading east, putting 10 million people across more than a dozen states under some sort of winter weather alert.

Plus, it could be a total game-changer when it comes to clean energy. Scientists for the first time ever hit a major breakthrough with nuclear fusion. What it means for all of us next.

And she's already dunking again on U.S. soil. After 10 months in a Russian prison, WNBA star Brittney Griner is back on the court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:28]

CABRERA: Right now, more than 10 million people are under winter weather alerts, as a massive storm that dumped five feet of snow in parts of California now tracks east, blizzard warnings in effect from Colorado to the Dakotas, with more whiteout conditions like this possible.

And this system could be packing wind, hail, even possible tornadoes for the south as well.

Meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it all for us.

We're facing a dangerous event that could go on for days. So where are the greatest risks right now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right now would be in the Rockies, Colorado, Utah, parts of Wyoming, even into Arizona, New Mexico.

That's where the most and the bulk of the weather is right now. But as we work our way into tonight, we will get the threat of down to the South. Not talking about snow. We're talking about humidity coming off the Gulf of Mexico and we get a severe weather event down here when we get a blizzard event to the north.

All kinds of moving parts here, but look how the big the moving part is, clouds all the way from Des Moines all the way to California. That's just one storm. And here it is. This is where the winter advisories are, blizzard warnings here. There will be winds somewhere in the ballpark of 40 to 50 miles per hour, with blinding snow, heavy at times.

Here's Nebraska right in the middle of my screen. Anywhere that you see orange, there will be wind gusts 25 to 30 miles per hour with this storm. And even into parts of Chicago, we will see that wind coming up from the south. Detroit, you will see some windy conditions too. But most of the bad weather is back here. Now, let me take you to 6:00

tonight. We're starting to see a few scattered showers pop up here in the danger zone, where the weather will get violent overnight, in the dark, when people are asleep. There's your snow in the Colorado Rockies right now.

Move you ahead until a little bit after midnight, and there you see that line of weather lighting up. Wind is blowing in Colorado, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and snow is coming down hard. Move you ahead until tomorrow. All of a sudden, the weather is parts and through -- right through Dallas, Texas, and into Arkansas, maybe even toward Louisiana, still snowing, and a little bit of ice in between to the north, just one day after another.

And then we work our way into Wednesday, and we're talking about Alabama and Florida, even parts of Southern Georgia. And I will take you one more step, because we will look at Thursday, not on a map, but Saturday and Sunday clears out, but, by Thursday, some of this snow could be into New England, maybe even as close as I-95.

There are the next 60 hours of precipitation, just to give you an idea. There's Virginia, the eastern side of the storm. And there's pretty much Nevada, the other side, a massive event, severe weather, flooding here, and then the ice, snow and cold.

[13:20:11]

That blizzard up here is going to be very difficult for ranchers. Really worried about that. And growing up in Nebraska, we saw this all the time in the Dakotas. When you get wins at 40, very cold air and snow, it gets to be a big struggle up there.

CABRERA: It is a big kahuna you are watching for us.

Chad Myers, thank you very much. And let's just hope that it's not as bad as it could be.

Now to a scientific milestone being called a breakthrough in the Holy Grail of clean energy. Scientists for the first time ever were able to create energy from a fusion reaction. That's a major step towards ending our dependence on fossil fuels.

CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us now.

OK, I told you, you have got the tough job today of making this simple...

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, bring it.

CABRERA: ... and helping us understand, what is fusion energy?

WEIR: Well, I'm nerding out on this.

(LAUGHTER)

WEIR: Let me try to help you. What it is, it's the sun in a box. It's a manmade star. It's the little engine in Tony Stark's chest, in Iron Man, if your kid watched the comic books.

CABRERA: Oh, yes.

WEIR: And it's the idea that it could be the perfect fuel source, because it's clean, it doesn't pollute the atmosphere, create climate change. The fuel source, you can basically get from seawater. So we have 30 million years of the fuel here on Earth.

But it's really hard to make a box that holds a star. And they have been working on this for a long time. And at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories out in California, they use the biggest lasers in the country to fire sort of these helium pellet -- excuse me -- hydrogen pellets.

And, as they collide, they create more energy than you're putting in. And the idea is, if you could create a sun in a box, it would have generally generate its own energy, power cities, planes, whatever, and safe. You could extinguish it like blowing out a match.

CABRERA: Wow. Wow. This is so fascinating.

WEIR: This is why it has been the dream of nuclear physicists for so long.

And we will see what Secretary Granholm -- you know when the secretary -- when a Cabinet secretary is making an announcement from a laboratory, something big, hopefully, happened there. But it's still a long way before this is being used practically in our lives.

It's probably our grandkids' power source, if all goes well, because you have to build these plants. Who knows how big they will be?

CABRERA: And we don't know, like you said, the specific announcement about just how groundbreaking whatever it is that they have discovered is.

WEIR: We don't know.

CABRERA: But we will expect that announcement tomorrow.

But if they're able to create energy through this process, what could that mean for the climate crisis?

WEIR: Oh, it's everything.

Again, it is a completely clean, renewable source forever. And the faster humanity can stop using fuels that leak and burn -- there's a pipeline leak right now happening in Kansas. We're seeing the results of a planet when the atmosphere gets too warm for any human existence, warmer than anything we have ever measured before.

And so the mission is, A, ramp away from those fuels and, B, switch to something cleaner. At the same time -- excuse me -- the International Energy Agency just last week put out this report, and they have always underplayed renewables, and said, no, wind and solar is going to pass coal in three years. It's going to -- more is going to be put online in the next five years than the last 20.

So there are huge breakthroughs that we're not talking about in all these other renewable sectors that will all be part of a big new sort of suite of solutions in the future.

CABRERA: It gives me hope.

WEIR: Yes.

CABRERA: Thank you, Bill.

WEIR: You bet.

CABRERA: We will watch for the announcement tomorrow.

Back in the U.S. and back on the basketball court. Brittney Griner's first move seems pretty fitting: a dunk. Details ahead.

And his death has stunned the global sports community. Now the body of journalist Grant Wahl, who died while covering the World Cup, is back in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:50]

CABRERA: WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner back home and back on the court.

Griner's agent telling ESPN she had a light basketball workout in Texas on Sunday and is -- quote -- "doing really, really well." The hoops workout coming just two days after she returned to American soil after nearly 10 months of imprisonment in Russia.

Griner's first move on the hardwood, a dunk. But her agent says, don't read too much into that yet. He says Griner is still unsure about her return to the WNBA. She was just released Thursday as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia. And she's expected to spend a few more days at an Army medical facility down in Texas before she returns to her regular life.

Wishing her the best.

Now to China, where a top health official is warning an Omicron variant is spreading quickly across the nation. And this surge is happening as that country is moving away from its zero COVID policy and relaxing strict health rules.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Residents across China are bracing for a surge in cases as the country unwinds from its tough zero COVID policy.

In Beijing, many businesses are closed. Restaurants that are open are deserted. And some of the biggest crowds seen have been outside pharmacies and COVID-19 testing booths.