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Biden in Mexico after Border Visit; Protesters Storm Brazil's Congress; House Meets Today on Rules; Joe Walsh is Interviewed about Congress; Nancy Hagans is Interviewed about NYC Nurse Strike; Damar Hamlin Could be Released from the Hospital. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 09, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:37]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Overnight, President Joe Biden arriving in Mexico. This, of course, ahead of his one-on-one meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this afternoon. The president also making a brief visit, it is his first since taking office, to the U.S. southern border on Sunday where he spoke with border enforcement in El Paso, talking about the rising surge of migrants and the growing fentanyl crisis.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Plus, in Brazil, a spectacle all too, sadly, familiar here in the U.S. After false stolen election claims, supporters of Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, laid siege to the capital. They smashed windows. They clashed with police. They broke into congress, the presidential palace and the supreme court. Officials say at least 400 people have been arrested. Sadly familiar images there.

Well, in Washington, Kevin McCarthy now faces a critical test after finally being elected speaker of the House. A major vote expected today on the rules package that he negotiated, making many concessions to GOP hardliners. Can he keep moderates on board who are upset by many of those concessions that he was forced to make to far right members?

We begin, though, in Mexico City with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Gabriela Frias.

Priscilla, first to you.

After his visit to El Paso yesterday where he did make that visit to the wall, the first of his administration, what is Biden's focus today as he sits down with the Mexican leader?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, migration, just as it was yesterday on the U.S./Mexico border. This has been a major political liability for the administration as they have wrestled with a record-breaking number of migrants arriving to the U.S. southern border. And what we have seen in the last few days is really the White House trying to reshape that narrative by visiting the U.S./Mexico border just yesterday and now having those conversations really spill here in Mexico in the North American Leaders Summit.

Now, of course, Jim, the U.S. has typically looked towards Mexico to help try to manage the flow of irregular migration to the U.S. southern border. And it is no exception under this administration. In fact, administration officials that I've been speaking to over the last several weeks have underscored the coordination with Mexico in trying to enforce the border and have said that they hope that the meeting between President Biden and Mexican President Lopez Obrador will reinvigorate those discussions.

And it's important because it -- a lot of what happens on the U.S./Mexico border does require, in terms of policy, some sort of buy- in from Mexico. Just last week, for example, President Biden announced a new initiative, which was opening up a parole program for migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela, for them to come to the U.S. in -- through a legal pathway. But the consequence was that they would be pushed back to Mexico if they did not under that Covid era restriction known as Title 42. That requires some agreement with Mexico. So, those are the types of discussions that we're expecting will happen here at the summit.

The administration also says that in addition to migration there will be discussions about security, for example, on fentanyl, which is a big and important issue, as well as economic development and climate change.

Jim.

HILL: So, Gabriella, give us a sense, as Priscilla, you know, wisely pointed out there, there does need to be some buy-in from the Mexican president, from the Mexican government. Where do things stand -- what is the sense in terms of how willing Mexico is to work with the U.S. on some of those proposals?

GABRIELA FRIAS, CNN REPORTER: Well, Mexico has shown it's been willing despite the opposition and the criticism from NGOs and public opinion that think that the Mexico government is doing the, quote/unquote, dirty job of the U.S. out of the absence of immigration reform. President Lopez Obrador insists that addressing the root causes of immigration is the key to solving these issues, namely lack of economic opportunity, climate change, violence. The Mexican government has been working with Latin American governments over a dozen of them in creating legal pathways for immigrants and at the same time working on a policy response, a common one, to address the constant challenge of thousands of families want to reach the U.S. border.

Also, the Mexican president is hoping that U.S. Congress approves an immigration reform since U.S. policies have created and sparked large settlements along the Mexico-U.S. border.

[09:05:04] Now, Mexico's -- the immigration problem for Mexico is increasingly difficult. Only last year over 118,000 people registered as seeking asylum. In 2014 you had that number around 2,000. And, remember, migration patterns are changing, so you have more people coming from Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela. These are countries with authoritarian regimes which make the issue more complex to solve.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Gabriela Frias there in Mexico City, Priscilla Alvarez as well, thanks so much to both of you. We'll be watching that visit closely as it continues.

Another story we're following, hundreds of rioters now in police custody in Brazil after they stormed government buildings in the country's capital over false election claims. Those violent protests drew comparisons, I'm sure they look familiar to you as well, to the January 6th attack on the Capitol here in the U.S.

HILL: The rioters are supporters of defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro. They broke into and vandalized Brazil's congress, supreme court and presidential palace, all while insisting that Bolsonaro was the victim of a rigged election. And the unrest comes just a week after the inauguration of President Lula da Silva.

CNN Brazil's Pedro Nogueira is live in Brasilia for us at this hour.

So, where do things stand and what are we hearing from Bolsonaro?

PEDRO NOGUEIRA, CNN BRAZIL REPORTER: Hi, Erica. Good morning. Good morning, Jim.

Bolsonaro is actually at the U.S. right now. He fled the country days before the end of his term. He's believed to be staying at a farm owned by one of his supporters in Florida.

Most of the protesters have been camping here in Brasilia in front of the Brazilian army headquarters for several weeks now. So, the police is at the place right now arresting hundreds of people.

Yesterday, rioters stormed the presidential palace, the supreme court building and also congress. They left behind a trail of destruction. Historical works of art were robbed or damaged, and also they even looted weapons from the presidential palace. At least ten journalists were beaten.

Justices (ph) understand that that was omission from local authorities in this situation. The governor of Brasilia, the city I'm reporting from right now, was removed by the supreme court about this omission specifically. Local authorities knew beforehand that a huge demonstration was underway and did less than expected in terms of security. Hundreds of buses drove to Brasilia during the weekend and the local police did nothing to stop them.

Jim. Erica.

SCIUTTO: Pedro Nogueira, good to have you there. Thanks so much. HILL: Let's turn now to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are expected to

vote on the rules, the concessions. A deal, of course, that Kevin McCarthy crafted to secure enough votes to finally get that speakership in a very late vote on Friday night.

SCIUTTO: CNN's congressional correspondent Jessica Dean, she was covering it, joins us now.

McCarthy, I mean, he has a narrow margin. It was clear throughout the negotiations for him just to win the gavel. He can only lose four votes over any measure, including this rules measure. I mean, does he have the votes to get this through?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So we're going to find out.

So, just to kind of zoom out for everybody first. This rules package is exactly what it sounds like. It sets the rules for this session of Congress in the House. And this is very typical, you know, of what they would do.

What is atypical about it is that there are so many concessions within this package that are drawing a lot of skepticism from some within the GOP, some of these more moderates. This is how McCarthy kind of wheeled and dealed and his allies to get him to the gavel. There were a lot of concessions made to those more hardliners that he had to pull over to his side.

Chief among them is this vote to oust the sitting speaker. It used to be that half the conference had to want to do that. Now it's just one person that can call for that vote. That's a significant change.

There's also various measures in here, for example, Tony Gonzalez, a congressman out of Texas, is -- says he's still a no on that rules package because he's concerned about defense spending. Congresswoman Nancy Mace out of South Carolina says she's kind of on the fence.

So, again, just to remind everyone, as you mentioned, Jim, he's only got a four-vote margin. We're going to see this again and again throughout this House, with such a small margin, and such a wide spectrum of people within the House GOP, Kevin McCarthy is going to continue to see himself in these situations. So, they need to get this passed so they can continue on with the rest of their business. This is the next big thing. So, the question is, just how will this unfold. They are set to gavel in tonight at 5:00 p.m., and we will see it all unfold from there.

[09:10:02]

Jim and Erica.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: We will be watching.

Jessica Dean, appreciate it. Thank you. SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss a Joe Walsh. He's a former

Republican congressman from Illinois.

Joe, good to have you on this morning.

JOE WALSH (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Good to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, I'm going to set aside the vote counting here because we did that last week. We don't know how this is going to go on this package. But if and when a rules package like this gets through, does that make for a functioning GOP-controlled House?

WALSH: Oh, God, no. You know, Jim, one of the weirdest things about last week, this fight to find a speaker, was the irony that it really doesn't matter which Republican ended up being speaker. This is a pretty fully radicalized MAGA Trumpist caucus in the House. The vast majority of House Republicans are Trumpists, are election deniers.

What was always so deceptive, Jim, is we talked about the 20, this minority of 20 that opposed McCarthy, but Marjory Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan supported McCarthy, but they're all going to be together on all of these other substantive fights these next two years. So, we're in for two years of utter chaos.

SCIUTTO: We know what they're going to focus on. Steve Scalise, of course, number two in the GOP leadership in the House, he tweeted out a list of GOP priorities and he says just beginning this week, defund 87,000 new IRS agents, establish committee on the weaponization, as they describe it, of federal agencies, and SPR oil sales to China, hold woke prosecutors accountable, did he not define woke prosecutors.

But I wonder, from a political perspective, you've won races for the House, is this a winning agenda for Republicans?

WALSH: Not at all. Not with the general electorate, Jim, but it's a winning agenda with the Republican Party base, period. And that's what they're concerned about.

Look, investigating the so-called deep state, Hunter Biden's laptop, going after Dr. Fauci, these are issues that the Republican Party base wants. And, Jim, you know like I know, that the House, the body in which I served, most closely reflects the base of the party.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WALSH: This will be a turn off. This kind of like MEGA revenge investigatory thing that these Republicans are going to do the next two years I think will be a turnoff to most Americans, but it's going to energize the Republican Party base.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, and we're going to throw up some more of these images here, those images of supporters of the losing candidate in the Brazilian presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro, storming the houses of government there, including where their assembly meets. You know, we used to talk about -- and many folks still imagine this, and perhaps it's true to some extent -- the U.S. exports democracy. But as you watch this and how it was ceded by the losing candidate in that election who had a lot of rapport, one might say, with Donald Trump, is election denialism a new U.S. export?

WALSH: Jim, you know this so well because you travel the world so much. We're the world's oldest democracy. The world -- the rest of the world watches us. Clearly the rest of the world watched us on January 6th. I never would have thought, Jim Sciutto, that two years removed from a violent attempt to overthrow an American election that you and I would be sitting here and Donald Trump would still be the leader of the Republican Party and he would be running for president again. The world watched what we did on January 6th and Trump and the Republican Party really didn't pay a price.

My fear is that this is something that fledgling democracies around the world are learning from us.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And many of the folks who denied the results of the 2020 election had great sway, held great sway in the speaker fight at the end of last week.

Joe Walsh, always good to have you on.

WALSH: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, more than 7,000 nurses are on strike in New York, forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals, babies to be transferred from the NICU. We're going to speak to the president of the nurse's union about what exactly the remaining sticking points are.

HILL: Plus, Damar Hamlin tweeting a photo of himself from the hospital as the Bills win a thrilling game and head to the playoffs. We're going to update you on his progress.

And a bit later, no topic off limits as Prince Harry spills all the tea inside the royal family drama, including how he thinks his mother would feel about his broken relationship with his brother.

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[09:19:13]

SCIUTTO: Happening right now, more than 7,000 nurses in New York are on strike after negotiations with two of the city's largest hospitals there failed. Tentative deals have been reached in recent days covering nurses at several other hospitals in the area.

HILL: Talks with Mount Sinai Hospital on the upper east side of Manhattan and at three locations of the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, though, failed overnight.

Joining us now is Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association.

Nancy, good to see you this morning. So, you know, Mount Sinai is saying here that union leadership walked

out of the negotiations overnight. They said they proposed a 19.1 percent wage increase, which a number of other hospitals agreed to. What more do you need this morning, Nancy, to end this strike?

NANCY HAGANS, PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

From the beginning of our negotiation it was never about wages, it was always about safe patient care.

[09:20:06]

And Mount Sinai know that what we need from them is proper nurse to patient ratios, is proper enforcement for staffing. And it's -- you know, it's really something to hear that all they focus on is wages. As nurses, when we go to work, we want to provide safe, quality care to our patients. At this stage we do not have that commitment from Mount Sinai Medical Center, as well as Montefiore Medical Center. That is one of the reasons that we are where we are right now.

SCIUTTO: You mention the nurse to patient ratio, which we know is crucial to these negotiations. The number of vacancies, as we understand it, have been high throughout the pandemic. You know, going back two, three years now. And I wonder, is it difficult to fill these positions? Is that one of the issues?

HAGANS: Well, that is our concern. Our concern, we would like to have a fair contract where we could attract -- where we could really attract and retain great nurses. If you have to go to work in a condition where on a daily -- daily that you have to work short, you are asked to care for 20 patients in the emergency room where the ratio should be three. So, a lot of our nurses have walked away from the profession just because they are tired of the abuse. They are tired of not able to deliver safe proper care for our patients.

HILL: Last month I know you also accused hospital management of purposely leaving some of these positions unfilled. Why would they leave those unfilled?

HAGANS: We -- we've been working in those conditions way before the pandemic. And after the pandemic, management decided to freeze a lot of these positions and they never posted the position. You look at a place at Montefiore Medical Center. They have over 710 positions open. Mount Sinai, 500 positions open. Nurses will not want to work every day and have to carry three times the amount of the load. After a while it is not only physically taxing, but it's mentally taxing. And we want to be able to deliver good patient care.

In the meanwhile, this hospital made a lot of profits. The CEO of those two hospitals have made the seven figure over the past couple of years. And what we asking them is to invest in our communities. Invest into the nursing -- into the nurses so we could deliver safe patient care to our patients. Our communities deserve better. New Yorkers deserve better. SCIUTTO: Are you worried, for instance right now we're showing a list

of things that have to happen during this strike, including babies transferred from neonatal intensive care units, cancer patients have to move to find their treatment elsewhere. Are you worried about the impact on patients while the strike continues?

HAGANS: The hospital management have created the crisis. We gave them a ten-day notice on December 30th. The reason we gave them the ten days was we were giving them the opportunity to either fix the problem by coming to the table and negotiate a fair contract or make proper arrangements. The fact that management decided not to come to the table and have a fair contract, they have failed the community. They have failed the patients.

SCIUTTO: Well, Nancy Hagans, anybody who has had family members, as I have, at long-term care in a hospital knows how important nurses are to their care. So we thank you for taking the time this morning.

HAGANS: Thank you for having me.

HILL: Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin could be released from the hospital soon. It's been a week now after he collapsed on the field after suffering cardiac arrest. Yesterday he posted a photo on social media. You see it there. He's sitting up in the bed wearing that love for Damar t-shirt. NFL teams and fans really showing that love in stadiums across the country this weekend.

SCIUTTO: It is -- I mean, we're going to highlight for a moment how amazing it is to see him in that position considering where he was just a few days ago. Such good news.

The last regular season game day saw teams and coaches, fans, they showed their support in so many ways, flags, signs, clothing with Hamlin's name and number. By the way, his team did a pretty good job of tribute -- sending tribute to him by returning the first play back for a touchdown, the kickoff in their game.

Former Bills player, our own Coy Wire, joins us now.

Coy, I understand you talked to one of Damar Hamlin's teammates after their win over the Patriots. What did he have to say?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Jim, Erica, he couldn't believe, first of all, returning that opening kickoff back, which rarely happens.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WIRE: He couldn't believe that it had been three years and three months since the Bills last did it.

[09:25:02]

I mean you could write a Hollywood script about perseverance, the power of faith, about people rallying and rising up for others when they're down. This story about Hamlin turned into a story about humanity.

Here is one of the stars of the team, pro-bowler Dion Dawkins, talking with us moments afterwards about the emotional turning point this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DION DAWKINS, BUFFALO BILLS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: His father like speaking to us and that, giving us just like a - but like a huge shot of energy. And then - and McDermott bringing the - the Facetime call on. And then us actually hearing his voice and seeing his face and seeing him put his arms up and his heart up, you know, like -- like those were all huge energy sources that just hit us, you know, like -- but like almost like whatever, like a canon, just boom, dropped right on us. And then now, to this moment now of happy tears, and these happy tears are real tears, as well as the sad tears. And just to see that when a group comes together, we put our mind to it and we got it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: From the tears of fear to start the week when Damar had suffered that cardiac arrest on the field, to the tears of joy through his recovery and to the Bills returning the kickoff for a touchdown on their very first play -

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WIRE: Their very first play since that injury, the world, Jim and Erica -

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WIRE: Coming together to support Damar Hamlin. His GoFundMe charity to raise money to buy toys for kids, originally set out to raise $2,500, it has skyrocketed to more than $8.5 million.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

WIRE: Buffalo bringing out the best in us.

HILL: Yes, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I'm a Giants fan. I was rooting for the Bills yesterday. So, it takes a lot.

HILL: There you go. They're bring - they're bringing him --

WIRE: That's big, Jim.

HILL: Bringing him over.

WIRE: That's big.

HILL: Coy, really appreciate it. Great stuff. Thank you, my friend.

WIRE: Thank you.

HILL: Up next here, a really terrifying story out of Texas. A man is accused of kidnapping a woman he met on a dating app, holding her captive for days. We have new details this morning on those charges.

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