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10M Plus People Under Winter Weather Alerts In More Than A Dozen States; Special Counsel Subpoenas Georgia Secretary Of State In 1/6 Probe; U.S. Exchange Student Studying Abroad In France Reported Missing. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 12, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Tomorrow, the CPI: Consumer Price Inflation is expected to show that price are up by 7.3 percent year-over-year. That is not good. As you can see on your screen, though, this would be an improvement. This would actually be the fifth straight month of cooling inflation and the lowest level all year. So that would be a step in the right direction and that sets the stage for the Fed meeting on Wednesday.

So it's a slam dunk that the Fed is going to raise interest rates yet again. The question, of course, is by how much. Now, the market is betting the Fed is going to slow the pace. They did four straight rate hikes of 75 basis points, markets are anticipating they're going to slow it to 50 basis points, that is still a big increase, it still means they are trying to slow this economy down.

But this is not a done deal yet though. The market is pricing in about a one in four chance that they surprise things and they actually ended up going with a another 75 basis point move. Either way, it means borrowing costs are going up for all of us and even more pressure on the economy.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Well, all right, Matt, thank you.

EGAN: Thanks, guys.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Thanks, Matt.

It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Right now, more than 10 million people across more than a dozen states are under winter weather alerts. A powerful winter storm is marching across the country. We're talking blizzard conditions, tornadoes, hail, flooding, all possible within the next few days.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, affecting millions of Americans. This system slammed the western U.S. over the weekend dumping as much as five feet of snow in parts of northern California and leaving more than 20,000 people without power. Now the storm is expected to strengthen as it moves east. Meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking this for us. So Chad, unfortunately a little bit of something for everyone, the system is bringing with it multi-day severe storm threat. What are you saying is the biggest risks here?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The biggest risk today is the snow in the mountains with difficult travel, difficult driving out here in the mountains. And then really the threat tomorrow is the severe weather that will pop up down here. You say: "How can you have snow and tornadoes at the same time?"

Well, it does happen that way. The snow will be up to the north, a little bit of ice below that and then rain and heavy thunderstorms right along the warm part. The warm part that's coming out of the Gulf of Mexico. An awful lot of snow though in California. And I have to tell you, they really need it.

This is going to melt later on in the spring. This is going to get into the reservoirs. This is going to help the rivers. Hopefully this doesn't stop like it did last year, January, February and March with no more snow, we could really use it. We're at 200 percent of normal right now for the time for the day, so we could really keep adding on, that would be nice.

Right now we're still seeing it in the Rocky Mountains. The red here, the worst part, the blizzard parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, parts of Wyoming, and then all of a sudden you get the severe weather on the warm side. There will be severe weather tonight, possibly overnight, even with some tornadoes in the dark. That is always very dangerous. Guys?

BLACKWELL: Indeed it is, Chad Myers. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

GOLODRYGA: Today, the federal agencies were warned that they need to prepare for a possible government shutdown this Friday. Now that's when the latest funding bill expires. The one thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on right now is that that's not going to happen.

BLACKWELL: But the deadline to get some kind of spending agreement in place is just about four days away or so. CNN Congressional Correspondent Jessica Dean is here with the latest on negotiation. So it looks like lawmakers will give themselves, what, an extension here to get a bigger deal. What's the plan thus far?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Victor and Bianna, that is the goal. That is what people are hoping will happen. So let me kind of set it up for you, because there's a lot of layers to all of this. The first of it, Friday deadline.

That Friday deadline you just talked about, which is when they need to fund the government. That's when the current funding situation runs out. So what everyone expects is that they will pass a short-term funding deal that will give them that extra time, that will kind of be able to kick the can down the road just enough that they hope they can get a full year funding bill passed before they go home for the holidays and before this Congress ends.

Right now, we know that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, they all would like to get a deal done. This is the most robust and optimized way to really fund the government and they are hoping to get that done. But look, the fact remains they're still billions of dollars apart on that top line and that's just the amount of money that they want to spend to fund the government. They're going to have to figure that out. They don't have a ton of time.

What we do know is we do not expect a government shutdown at this point on Friday. We do expect they're going to do that short-term funding bill, and then try to get this bigger bill.

And remember, the dynamics change once everyone comes back in January because Republicans will take over the House and that could really complicate matters in terms of trying to get to a bipartisan agreement. So there's a lot of dynamics at play. What you want to keep your eye on is what comes after the 16th, Victor and Bianna, can they get that top line number, can they figure out a bipartisan deal to close out this year.

GOLODRYGA: Otherwise, they're going to go with a stopgap measure.

DEAN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Jessica Dean, thank you.

DEAN: Yep.

[15:05:02]

BLACKWELL: Top Biden administration officials had a virtual meeting today with the sister of Paul Whelan to determine the next steps to free him. Whelan is the American businessman and former Marine still detained in Russia since his arrest four years ago. He told CNN from prison that he is greatly disappointed that he was not able to return to the U.S. with Brittney Griner.

GOLODRYGA: The WNBA star was freed last week and is now at a Texas army medical facility working on transitioning back to her regular life.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is on the story. So Kylie, what happened during this virtual meeting between Elizabeth Whelan and the national security officials?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, listen after that meeting, she told CNN that she's encouraged by the energy of Biden administration officials when they were discussing with her today during about a 45-minute discussion the way forward here in efforts to try and get her brother, Paul Whelan home.

Now, a State Department spokesperson said they spoke about the strategy, she said, she was able to share with them ideas for getting him home. Of course, this comes as it's been a tough week for her family just because her brother wasn't included in that prisoner swap that got Brittney Griner home.

But the special envoy for hostage affairs here at the State Department, Roger Carstens, spoke with Dana Bash over the weekend. And here's what he said about generally what their efforts are going to look like to get him home and his message to Paul Whelan when they spoke last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER CARSTENS, U.S. SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR HOSTAGE AFFAIRS: There's always cards. The options are always being evaluated. We have to adapt at times. But here's the thing I'd like to leave you with, we have an ongoing open dialogue with the Russians and we have the commitment of this president and my office, certainly, to bring Paul Whelan home.

And I said, Paul, you have the commitment of this president, the President's focus, the Secretary of State's focused, I'm certainly focused, and we're going to bring you home. And I reminded him, I said, Paul, when you were in the Marines and I was in the Army, they always reminded you, keep the faith. And I said, keep the faith, we're coming to get you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Yes. One thing that U.S. officials keep pointing out is that there is a channel of communication between the U.S. and Russia that has proven to be successful. We should note that Trevor Reed, another American who was wrongfully detained, was freed earlier this year. And that channel was one thing that helped pull off the deal that got him home. And then it was used again, to get home Brittney Griner.

So they're feeling good about the fact that they have that channel. They're going to keep using it. Of course, questions as to how active it is right now, but they say that they have every intention to try and work to get Paul Whelan home expeditiously. Guys?

BLACKWELL: All right, Kylie Atwood. Thank you, Kylie.

A French prosecutor is investigating a U.S. college student's disappearance while studying abroad. I'll speak to Kenny DeLand, Jr.'s father, that's just coming up.

GOLODRYGA: And this just in to CNN, Special Counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:14]

BLACKWELL: We're just getting this into CNN, the newly appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. GOLODRYGA: Now, this is part of the DOJ's investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol attack. CNN's Sara Murray is following this for us. So this is an interesting development, Sara. What do you think it signals?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. This is a subpoena that just came in recent days. I think it is an indication. We knew the Special Counsel had said in his statement we took over that there would be no lull, there would be no lag in the investigations. I think this is an indication of that, that DOJ is pressing ahead in trying to get to the bottom of what went into the run up to January 6 and into the attack on the Capitol.

Of course, we know Brad Raffensperger, he's talked to the January 6 Select Committee. He's talked to prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia and so now he's gotten this subpoena, because he was a key person that the former president put a lot of pressure on when it came down to Donald Trump's efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election.

We know he was on that phone call with Donald Trump where Trump was pressuring Raffensperger to find the votes necessary for Trump to win Georgia, a state that he lost. This also comes as we've seen other subpoenas in recent weeks to election officials and other states. It gives you an indication that prosecutors really want to know more about interactions that Donald Trump and the people around him were having with election officials in these battleground states.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Sara Murray, thank you.

MURRAY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now claiming that she was being sarcastic when she talked about the Capitol riot over the weekend. First, listen to what Greene said this is during an event hosted by the New York Young Republican Club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, it would've been armed. See, that's the whole joke, isn't it? They say that whole thing was planed, and I'm like, are you kidding me? A bunch of conservatives, Second Amendment supporters within the Capitol without guns and they think that we organized that, I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, Greene issues statement a short time ago. Here's part of it: "The White House needs to learn how sarcasm works. My comments were making fun of Joe Biden and the Democrats, who have continuously made me a political target since January 6th."

Let's discuss now with CNN Political Analyst Astead Herndon, National Political Reporter for the New York Times and CNN Senior Political Commentator, Scott Jennings. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Scott, Let me start with you. Your response and reaction to the initial comments and now I was just kidding.

[15:15:00]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I mean, only Marjorie Taylor Greene, in an effort to disavow something, could make it worse. I mean, let's take her at her word that it was sarcasm. This is a terrible joke. We would have won what? What would you have won on that particular day?

I mean, none of this makes any sense. It was, at best, tasteless, and at worst, sort of a further threat, like, hey, well, maybe this could have been justified. So I find this whole episode to be incredibly problematic. Frankly, it's - and it's problematic for Republicans who I'm sure being asked about it everywhere they go today. This is not the kind of distraction, of course, that Kevin McCarthy needs as he tries to lock down the votes to become the next speaker.

And so, here we go again with one of these people that I'm sure is going to be a thorn in McCarthy's side for the next two years.

GOLODRYGA: Well, on that point, Astead, is this indicative of what the New Year will look like with Republicans in control of Congress? Because once upon a time, we were told that people like Marjorie Taylor Greene were just fringe elements of this party. Now she is closely aligned with Kevin McCarthy. He needs her, apparently, if he wants the speakership role. What happens now if people like Greene are kingmakers?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's the reality of our current political situation. I think that this is a kind of preview of where the Congress is going. And just in terms of that general cadence of someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene saying something and then that placing pressure, as Scott says, on someone like a potential speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to come out and respond to that.

But to be honest with you, that's where the Republican Party has been for years now, but it wasn't Marjorie Taylor Greene, it was Donald Trump, who was saying those statements, and she represents that same type of wing of voter. And so while we were initially - while there was some kind of casting her office fringe, initially, that was always a little bit overhyped, because what she is, is a kind of, as a kind of representation of a sizable wing of Republicans.

That is not the only wing of Republicans among the party and that is what's going to have to be sorted out as we look toward the '24 nomination and beyond. But it is a sizable wing and it will be a thorn in McCarthy's side.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's turn to the Senate. And Astead, I'm going to stay with you.

We heard from Independent senator, Bernie Sanders, about the newly Independent senator, Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona. This is what he told Dana Bash over the weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT): I happen to suspect that it's probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona, I think, the Democrats there are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helps sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So clearly, he's not a fan. But he and others seem to think that this is about avoiding a primary ahead of her potential reelection in 2024. Does this change anything else potentially?

HERNDON: It's really hard to say and I think that the kind of before we get to the analysis here, it's stunning that Bernie Sanders is guessing like the rest of us as to what the reasons for this switch is, because there's not really ideological reasons that make it all that clear. This is not someone who had some really principled stance about what they kind of - where they want to see politics to go.

The video that was put out, explaining the switch was less about positions and more, frankly, about vibes, and that there wasn't - it wasn't a match up with where the Democrats are right now. I think Bernie Sanders is correct that a lot of people have suspected it and this is what folks have talked to me about that this is about looking ahead towards a reelection in Arizona, and they've been worrying about the growing base of Democrats who are upset with her actions.

But this is a senator that could have changed those actions, that could reverse their position on the filibuster, that could change on voting rights issues or other issues to have an overwhelming support from the Democratic base. Instead of doing that, she has decided to go this route.

And I will point to the story written by my colleague, Reid Epstein and others over the weekend in New York Times, it is simply a move that has garnered, at minimum, to gain attention to herself.

GOLODRYGA: Well, thus far, at least publicly, the White House is giving her the benefit of the doubt and Chuck Schumer said that she's going to keep her committees, so they'll obviously be closely watching this.

But Scott, I'm wondering how Republicans are reacting. We heard from Sen. Graham, just today saying this is an opportunity for Republicans seeing that she left the party, do you view it that way as well?

JENNINGS: Well, I think there's always an opportunity when someone is willing to not just go along with the doctrinaire liberals who run the Democratic Party. I mean, that - I think that's what she's essentially rebelling against is that she doesn't want to be told and then flogged - you know what to do and then flog for not doing it on some of the issues that Astead mentioned. Well, she's just not there on those issues. She doesn't want to be that liberal.

[15:20:00]

And so I think when you ask somebody who's willing to hear you out on your arguments on certain policies, there is an opportunity there. I mean, certainly for the Senate race coming around it certainly creates an interesting situation for both parties. Obviously, Democrats are going to want to run somebody. What the Republicans do, I don't know yet, because obviously the Republican Party of Arizona is a little bit of a mess right now, given how things have gone out there lately.

So - but it's true to her brand. She has been a bit of a maverick. I think she considers John McCain a bit of a hero and he obviously had a maverick brand as well. He never took the step of declaring his independence but certainly, he was viewed as an independent guy and I think she views herself that way.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Astead Herndon and Scott Jennings, thank you.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

HERNDON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The parents of Kenny DeLand, Jr. are asking for help finding their son. He's gone missing while studying abroad in France. I will speak to his parents about their search next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:51]

GOLODRYGA: Parents of a New York college student are desperately pleading for help to find their son. Kenny DeLand, Jr. is studying abroad at eastern France just outside Leon. His family says they haven't heard from him since November 27th.

BLACKWELL: CNN's National Correspondent Jason Carroll is with us now. So Jason, what do you know?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's a lot to unpack here, guys. The State Department is monitoring the situation, as you can imagine, along with French authorities. Ken DeLand, Jr.'s parents say he is - it is just completely out of character for him not to have been in contact. They have not heard from him since last month.

What we're about to show you is perhaps the last known image of DeLand. It shows him just as he was entering a sporting goods store in the south of France. As you can see from that picture there, previous picture, he was wearing a red jacket and a gray knit cap, that was on December 3rd.

So here's just sort of a quick recap of what we know at this point: DeLand is a senior at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York. His family launched a website detailing his last known whereabouts. They say they last heard from him actually on November 27th. That was via WhatsApp.

That's when he apparently boarded a train headed for Valence, France. Two days later, the public prosecutor's office in Grenoble, that's the city where DeLand was studying French, they had opened an investigation after his fellow students had reported him missing.

Then, on November 30th, there was a ping from his phone and then nothing until he was spotted again on the surveillance cameras at that sporting goods store in the south of France. St. John Fisher University says it's working closely with the American Institute for Foreign Study on the investigation.

AIFS saying in a statement: "We are working with local law enforcement have begun a search and we are hoping for his swift and safe return." Again, the State Department is working with French authorities, his community and his family praying at this point for his safe return, Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you.

BLACKWELL: And joining me now is Kenny DeLand, Jr.'s mother, Carol Laws and his father, Ken DeLand, Sr. is joining us on the phone. Thank you both for being with me.

You said that the last time you spoke with your son was November 27th. Carol, what can you tell me about that conversation?

CAROL LAWS, MOTHER OF U.S. STUDENT MISSING IN FRANCE: It's like any normal conversation that we've had. He's telling me about the time that he's having in Europe and he was looking forward to coming home for Christmas and starting to put the plans in place for that.

BLACKWELL: And before that, he went silent over the last couple of weeks, Ken - was it typical for there to be long stretches without hearing from your son?

KEN DELAND, FATHER OF U.S. STUDENT MISSING IN FRANCE: No, I would hear from him frequently, not every day maybe necessarily, but every other day at the very least where he would check in and see how I was doing and I would ask him how he was doing and he enjoyed all the international travel that this trip had provided him and he took lots of pictures.

BLACKWELL: Ken, the public prosecutor there in Grenoble said this: "The young man reportedly told several people that he had arrived in France, underprepared, and was having difficulty making friends." Did he talk to you about any challenges he was having in France or do you think that might have any role in his silence or disappearance?

DELAND: It's hard to say. We can all speculate. I'm not really aware of - I understand he took French in high school. He tried to prepare himself for this trip. Could you have known French better? Yes.

[15:30:00]