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House GOP Weighs Resolution Condemning Biden Over Spy Balloon; Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) Discusses Chinese Spy Balloon; Former NY Attorney: Many "Pieces of Evidence" Exist to Charge Trump; DOJ Charges 2 People with Conspiracy to Destroy Energy Facilities; Ex-Prospective Staff Accuses Rep. Santos of Sexual Harassment. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 06, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:31:59]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: The Biden administration expects to brief a group of lawmakers known as the Gang of Eight as early as tomorrow on the suspected Chinese spy balloon the U.S. military shot down Saturday.
Republicans continue to slam the president for waiting until the balloon crossed the country before shooting it down.
Sources tell CNN that House Republicans are now weighing a vote as soon as tomorrow condemning the Biden administration for its handling of this incident.
CNN's Manu Raju joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Manu, this potential vote comes just ahead of the president's State of the Union address. What implications could that have?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's still uncertain, Bianna, if Republicans will go that route. I am told that's an issue that's still under consideration. Members have to see the language. There has to be an agreement.
And remember, there's a narrow House Republican majority, meaning more than four defections could scuttle any legislation, including this one, which is one reason why it's not yet clear if they'll offer a symbolic rebuke to the president's actions.
They plan to meet behind closed doors in a conference tomorrow morning as they typically do on a weekly basis. We'll see if anything comes of that.
There's a number of questions that members have still, Democrats and Republicans, about this spy balloon.
What information it may have gotten, why the administration did not act sooner, what actions were taken as the administration learned about this and why the president did not speak out sooner.
Not just Republicans, but Democrats have those questions as well.
We expect, on the Senate side, the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Jon Tester, to hold a hearing on this issue. He's from Montana, one of the states it was noticed earlier heading over some time last week.
And also we expect the leaders of the House and the Senate, the leaders of the Intelligence Committee and the so-called Gang of Eight to get a briefing as soon as tomorrow.
They're expected to get highly classified information about everything that happened here before the larger membership of the House and Senate learn about what happens next week.
So, Bianna, just a lot of questions as the members grapple about the implications and decide whether to formally rebuke the president over his handling of this issue -- Bianna?
GOLODRYGA: This, as the debris continues to be collected and sent to Quantico.
Manu Raju, thank you.
Joining me now is Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a member of the House committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us.
You tweeted this Saturday in response to the balloon being shot down over the Atlantic. I want to read it for our viewers.
You said, "Add this to the list of national security failures by Biden."
"The administration knowingly allowed the CCP's spy balloon to float across our entire country -- including over military bases -- a shameless violation of our sovereign air space & clear provocation."
The military said all along, Congresswoman, this balloon posed no national security threat. And that led many to interpret the military to being capable of jamming the balloon in some form and enabling it from collecting any information.
If that is the case, then what exact national security threat did it pose?
REP. ASHLEY HINSON (R-IA): Well, to be frank, Bianna, this is a brazen provocation by the Communist Party. It's why we need to be standing up as Americans and waking up to the new Cold War we're facing with the Communist Party.
[14:35:07]
They've got 215 million of these weather balloons in the form of TikTok on Americans' phones. So they're continuing to gather this intelligence. It's high time we shut down the surveillance operation that the Chinese have on the ground and in the air.
Americans, certainly Iowans, are skeptical of the fact that this balloon was able to hover over Montana, hover over our Air Force bases in Missouri and not gather any information and beam it back to Communist China to be used against us.
I think those are the questions we want serious answers to. But we have to make sure that there is a plan from the Biden administration and our military to make sure this isn't allowed to happen again.
GOLODRYGA: What about the counterargument that during this time it was able to gather intelligence, that perhaps the balloon was transmitting back to China and thus being productive from an intelligence standpoint for the United States?
HINSON: I think it's highly concerning either way. We should not be allowing them to execute an agenda across our country. The mission was allowed to be completed going all the way to South Carolina.
You can't tell me with only a seven-mile radius there wasn't a place where they could have shot this down and continue to gather that intelligence of what made up this balloon be how it was being used.
It's very clear this is a very sophisticated spy operation that's been in the works for many, many years. We know this has been taking place over many administrations.
So, again, this was a test. President Biden failed that test by allowing it to work its way across our country. And Americans deserve answers as to why that decision was made.
GOLODRYGA: Do Americans deserve answers as to why -- it looks like we're learning why three balloons, Chinese intelligence gathering balloons were able to cross along the United States being undetected during the Trump administration without top officials being aware, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the former president himself.
We are just hearing that a "domain awareness gap" allowed them to go undetected. Is that not a national security threat? How alarming is that?
HINSON: Absolutely, it's alarming, Bianna. When you look at what's been able to be allowed by the Chinese Communist Party over the last decade, again, through several administrations. We've seen them ramp up their surveillance on us.
This is a very sophisticated espionage apparatus they have been able to execute for many, many years. Americans should absolutely be concerned about this threat.
It's, again, why we have propped up in a bipartisan way the Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party.
And I want to be clear here, the Chinese Communist Party is a real threat to the Americans. We have no beef with the Chinese people. It's about the continued provocation by the military apparatus and the Chinese Communist Party.
That's what our committee is looking to challenge to make sure that the Chinese know we're taking these threats very seriously.
And again, that's why you're hearing calls for questions about when we knew about these devices coming across our country, why was it allowed to persist, as it has been, and how are we going to make sure we have a plan going forward so it can't continue.
GOLODRYGA: It appeared it was the Biden administration that informed the Trump administration of these three balloons that had gone undetected.
Are you hoping to get more clarity, perhaps an investigation into how that was allowed to happen, this domain awareness gap?
HINSON: Absolutely. We need to make sure our military has the resources and tools necessary to be able to detect. We're facing new threats every day, and we need to be nimble and be able to react to those threats.
This is very, very clear, about, again, making sure we have a path forward, get answers to the questions, but we cannot allow this to happen again.
GOLODRYGA: Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, thank you for your time.
[14:38:51]
Stunning claims from a former Manhattan prosecutor who investigated Donald Trump. He said his probe turned up enough evidence to charge the former president. We'll take a closer look at this claim straight ahead.
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[14:43:23]
GOLODRYGA: The "National Enquirer" has been sold after its parent company faced intense pressure to part ways with the outlet. The controversial tabloid was known to catch and kill negative stories about high-profile people, including former President Donald Trump.
The Manhattan district attorney is pushing ahead with his investigation into Trump's alleged role in a hush money payment made to silence adult film star, Stormy Daniels.
Kara Scannell joins me now for more on this.
I know you have more information about another case against Trump and the Trump Organization. Fill us in.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. One of the former prosecutors investigating Trump -- this was under the previous district attorney, Cy Vance -- they were looking into the financial statements and the accuracy of those statements. That prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, resigned in the protest last year
just about two months after the incoming D.A,. Alvin Bragg, came into office. That was because Bragg would not authorize him to move forward with an indictment of the former president.
Pomerantz was on "60 Minutes" last night in his first television interview and said anyone other than Donald Trump would have been indicted.
Take a listen.
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MARK POMERRANTZ, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTAWNT TO NY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: If you take the exact same conduct and make it not about Donald Trump and not about a former president of the United States, would the case have been indicted? It would have been indicted in a flat second.
BILL WHITAKER, CORRESPONDENT, "60 MINUTES": So what ties Donald Trump directly to this? Couldn't he say, my accountant said it's worth this, I signed it.
POMERANTZ: There were many bits and pieces of evidence on which we could rely in making that case.
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[14:44:58]
SCANNELL: That view was not shared by everyone on the prosecution team. A couple of attorneys resigned from the team.
And some career prosecutors there, sources told me last year, said they didn't think they had enough evidence to prove that the former president had criminal intent.
Some of these bits and pieces of evidence that Pomerantz is talking about did eventually become public in the negotiation attorney general civil investigation.
And she filed that lawsuit last September against the former president, all related to the accuracy of his financial statements. But a civil investigation has much lower burden of proof than a criminal investigation.
GOLODRYGA: I remember those resignations last year. A lot of people were surprised by them.
Kara Scannell, thank you.
The Justice Department just charged two people who they say were planning to destroy energy facilities. These attacks are a growing trend in the country, particularly among extremist groups. We'll have new details on the attack straight ahead.
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GOLODRYGA: The Department of Justice just charged two people with conspiracy to damage energy facilities in Maryland.
Court documents say a Neo-Nazi leader and a female friend allegedly planned to attack electrical substations surrounding Baltimore and wanted to, quote, "completely destroy the entire city."
Their plans were thwarted thanks to an enormous amount of online chatter.
Here is Baltimore's FBI field director.
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TOM SOBOCINSKI, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI, BALTIMORE: Russell provided instructions and location information. He described attacking the power transformers as the greatest thing somebody can do.
In her own words, Daniels said that she was determined to do this. She added, "It would lay this city to waste."
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GOLODRYGA: John Miller is CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
Thank goodness, John, this was thwarted, especially when you heard that description.
Tell us how the plan had been hatched and how alarming it is in your view.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, first, we have to stop fully and take a look at what is Brandon Russell. He is former head of a dedicated Neo-Nazi group operating in the shadows in the United States for some time.
But he just got out of jail from his last guilty plea for storing explosives in his home in Tampa where he had his framed photograph of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, his own military uniform, weapons and so on.
So one question is, what is he doing out of jail? We'll get to that.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
MILLER: But second question, how was it supposed to work?
We have seen much more this year, repeated calls to take down the power grid among Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
And their plans involve what we've seen already, sniper attacks on key nodes within the substations. But this one also involved sending things into the plants carried by mylar balloons that were meant to cause these cascading blackouts.
GOLODRYGA: And you mentioned this has happened in other locations as well. What is the theory behind why we're seeing an increase in these types of planned attacks, especially by extremists?
MILLER: So the white nationalists, the Neo-Nazis, the white supremacists, the accelerationists accelerating the fall of the government and society so they can reorganize it in a white power government.
They have become enamored with this idea of taking down the power grid because they think, if they think they can do sustained blackouts and people go into panic mode, riots, lootings, a race war, that they can accelerate the emergence of this new society.
And we keep talking about the threat from other countries, but we haven't focused nearly enough in terms of domestic threats. And people can do this -- just a couple of people hatch a plan.
Last Friday, we did a big story on this underground movement on CNN. And I think if you look at the story, on CNN.com, you can go back to that for the bigger picture. But this is becoming a real emerging problem.
GOLODRYGA: Something we need to pay much more attention to.
John Miller, thank you.
Well, right now, in Turkey and Syria, there is a desperate search for survivors underway following the catastrophic earthquake. We'll take you live to the ground. That is next.
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GOLODRYGA: A former prospective staffer for Congressman George Santos says he has filed a police report accusing the Republican of sexual harassment. Derek Myers claims that Santos touched his groin while alone in his
congressional office.
He also alleges that the lawmaker invited him to his home. When Myers refused, he was denied the job as a staffer just a few days later. He also filed a House ethics complaint, which CNN has reviewed.
CNN's Melanie Zanona is on live Capitol Hill for us.
Melanie, are we likely to see the Ethics Committee launch an investigation into this?
MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've confirmed at CNN that the House Ethics Committee has received the complaint but no word yet on whether they will launch a formal investigation. The committee is usually tightlipped about these things. But this is a very serious allegation from Derek Myers. He was a
perspective staffer, working a volunteer basis for the congressman. He said he was waiting for paperwork to go through before he officially took a job with the congressman.
And he also says that he has filed a police report.
Now, Myers says that he does not have any corroborating evidence. He acknowledged that. But it is illegal to file a false report.
And let me tell you about what is in that report, according to Myers. Myers says on January 5th, he was alone with the congressman in his office when the Congressman reached over towards his groin area. Myers said that he swatted his hand away and promptly left the office.
And about five days later, that Myers said he was called back to the office where he was questioned about his resume and his former work as a reporter. And then a few days after that, his job offer was officially rescinded.
Santos was silent about these allegations throughout the weekend, but he did weigh in a bit ago.
Take a listen to what he said.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you talk to me about Derek Myers and his alleging you made unwanted sexual --
[14:59:58]
REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): It's comical.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you deny the claim against you?
SANTOS: Of course, I deny the claim against me.
(CROSSSTALK)
SANTOS: Let me make it clear.
(CROSSTALK)
SANTOS: Let me make it clear.
