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Lawmakers Still Demanding Answers On Downed Objects After Briefing; Official: U.S., Canada May Not Be Able To Recover Debris From Three Downed Objects; Inflation Still Hot In January, Sparking Rate Hike Fears; Petito Family Attorney: Brian Laundrie's Mom Wrote Son A Letter Officer To Help Bury A Body; Biden Speaks For First Time Since Michigan State Shooting. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 14, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Bottom line, this helps explain why when Nikki Haley previously said she wasn't going to run against Trump and, apparently, they talked ahead of this and he's all fine with it now. It's because probably, as you say, it all accrues to him in the end.

Ron Brownstein, Margaret Talev, thank you very much for a great conversation. I really appreciate it.

Coming up here, Senators just got a classified briefing on those objects that were shot out of the sky, but they say that they still don't have a lot of answers. And it comes as we learn that some of those objects might never be found.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:10]

HUNT: We're seeing new images of parts of a Chinese spy balloon being recovered by the U.S. Navy off the coast of South Carolina. A U.S. fighter jet, of course, shot it down on February 4th.

We're also learning that the U.S. and Canada may not be able to recover debris from the three other airborne objects that were shot down by the U.S. military over the weekend. That's according to a senior Biden administration official.

A short time ago, Senators got a classified briefing on those identified objects -- unidentified objects, I should say. And afterward, some said that they still need more answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The briefing was helpful today. Again, I'm not unnerved by anything. I'm confident this wasn't an attack on the country.

I think it probably served the country well to have the president explain what's going on. SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I am not in any way afraid that we are

under a threat of attack or physical harm to our homeland. That's my personal feeling. But the American people need to be reassured with more facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: CNN national security reporter, Natasha Bertrand, joins us now.

Natasha, thanks for being here.

So what more are you learning today about these unidentified objects that clearly these Senators are still saying, we need more information about them?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: I think everyone wants more information about these objects, including the Biden administration, right? Even they don't seem to know what these things actually are.

Look, John Kirby, who is the spokesperson for the National Security Council, he did give us new information this morning, telling reporters that the intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose.

That is the furthest that the administration has gone in recent days in saying that these objects may not be tied to a nation state, and they might just be commercial.

Now, obviously, that is -- it still remains unclear why these objects were shot down. If they're just commercial, if they're considered benign.

The official explanation has been that they posed a potential risk to civilian aircraft because of the altitude each one of them were traveling at.

As far as whether or not these objects had surveillance capabilities, for example, all signs right now are pointing to no, according to U.S. officials.

Now, some of those objects, including the one that was shot down over northern Canada, did have some kind of payload, you know, which would be the equipment essentially that's kind of underneath that main structure.

But it is very unclear at this point whether the administration is even going to be able to recover the debris in order to properly analyze it.

So the biggest question they have also been getting is, are we going to just be shooting these kinds of things out of the sky as a policy moving forward?

The administration has said they're going to consider that on a case- by-case basis but that they will move to protect, obviously, U.S. air space when they have to -- Kasie?

HUNT: All right, Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much for that reporting.

Let's bring in now Beth Sanner, CNN national security analyst, and former deputy director of National Intelligence, to help us understand a little more about this.

So thank you so much for being with us.

We're hearing that the debris from some of these objects might just never be recovered. Does that mean that we just never know what they actually were?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I feel like we're watching an "X-Files" episode.

Maybe --

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: So I'm not the only one.

SANNER: Maybe we won't ever know. Maybe it will be in the unknown.

But let me tell you, there's so much of this kind of unidentified aerial phenomena, as the new term for UFOs is, up in our sky, that I suspect we might have another opportunity to shoot something down.

But you know, I think that the big picture here is that, number one, this doesn't pose -- these don't pose a military threat.

Number two, weather balloons, other kinds of balloons by the Weather Service and other research agencies, tens of thousands of these go up into the air every year. They have payloads. This could be that.

And I just think we need to be methodical. And I welcome the Biden administration's setting up some new bodies to look a little more deeply into this.

We already have a military intel organization looking at these as we speak.

HUNT: Right. So one of the three objects reportedly passed near sensitive U.S. sites before it got shot down.

So you just mentioned weather balloons, all these other possibilities of what this could be.

Does proximity to these sensitive sites make it more difficult to dismiss that kind of an object as benign as the White House is suggesting or does it seem like it could easily be a coincidence?

[13:40:00]

SANNER: Well, there are lots of sayings about not putting nefarious activities ahead of the theory of something that's just coincidence.

And I think that, you know, we have a lot of these sites. It could be coincidence. It could be something.

So, look, you know, the intel implication of this is not -- it's not a non-zero implication. It matters. And we should look into it, but we shouldn't panic either.

HUNT: Fair enough.

And let me just kind of walk you through this one, the other detail that we do have here.

The balloon that -- or the airborne object that was shot down over the Yukon -- so that's in Canada -- is being described as a small metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it. Small metallic balloon.

Does that mean anything to you as someone who has seen intelligence on reports on these kinds of things?

SANNER: It could be a commercial balloon. It could be a research balloon. It could be a weather balloon. All of these balloons have payloads like that, that are tethered payloads because they're collecting data.

And again, like a lot of this is about wind speed and atmosphere conditions and the environment and all different things. So, yes, it could be something, as John Kirby said, completely benign.

I hope we can get these. But you know, there's more up there to look at.

The recent report by the intelligence community released in January on unidentified aerial phenomena indicated that, you know, half of about 250 things sighted by U.S. pilots over the last 18 months or so are still unknown. Half of them were balloon or balloon-like objects.

This is something we need to start digging into a lot more.

HUNT: For sure.

All right, Beth Sanner, thanks very much for your time and expertise. We really appreciate it.

Coming up, the cost of gas and groceries still putting a major dent in household budgets. But a new inflation report does offer some encouragement. We're going to underscore that word, "some."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:45]

HUNT: A hotter-than-expected inflation report sparking fears that rate hikes are here to stay.

According to the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index, inflation continues to slow to an annual rate of 6.4 percent in January. But some prices are still red hot.

CNN business and politics correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich, joins us now.

Vanessa, walk us through the numbers.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with some of the good news, as you mentioned, Kasie.

The good news is that inflation is at about 6.4 percent. That's good news because that's the seventh straight month that year-over-year inflation has fallen. But that number still too hot.

But let's also look at month-over-month inflation. Inflation in January up .5 percent. That is significant. And that is where the concern is coming from.

We heard President Biden today saying that, overall, the report is good news because of the year-over-year inflation. But the concern, and he said there is still work to do, is because of this month-over- month inflation.

Let's break it down. Where did the increases come? Food up 10 percent year-over-year. Energy, a big, big driver. Gasoline up 1.5 percent from last year. And shelter, 7.9 percent.

This is a record. And that is because, as Americans, we spend the most on shelter when it comes to our everyday budget.

Americans really feel this day-to-day probably, Kasie, most when they go to fill up their tank for their cars but also at the grocery store.

Look at this, eggs still skyrocketing to 70 percent from last year. Butter up 26.3 percent. Lettuce up 17.2 percent from last year.

And what does that mean for our wallets? Well, according to Moody's Analytics, an average family is spending about $400 more per month on the same goods and services this year than they did last year.

Kasie, what this all really means is that the Federal Reserve has more work to do. We can expect more interest rate hikes to try to get inflation under control for American families -- Kasie?

HUNT: Yes, and that number is really tough on many family budgets. And $400 a month is nothing to sneeze at.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very much for that report.

[13:49:00]

Just in here to CNN, the family of Gabby Petito wants a jury to see what they're calling a damning letter that was written to Brian Laundrie from his mother. A letter that allegedly said, "burn after reading."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HUNT: This just in. Gabby Petito's family attorney just revealing in court that they want a jury to see what they call a damning letter written to Brian Laundrie from his mother.

The letter's envelope allegedly says, "burn after reading."

CNN's Jean Casarez joins us.

Jean, what else does the letter say?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time we have heard this in open court. And the civil hearing just concluded minutes ago.

What it says is that, the plaintiff's attorney, Gabby's family's attorney stood up in court and said: "Your Honor, we are aware of a letter that Roberta Laundrie sent to her son, Brian Laundrie, that, quote, "things were expressed, including helping getting him out of prison, getting a shovel, and some other things."

That letter was found in its envelope according to the plaintiff --

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: All right. So sorry I have to cut Jean off there.

We have to listen to the president of the United States. He's making remarks in Washington, D.C.

We want to listen in because this is the first time we'll hear from him since last night's mass shooting at Michigan State University.

Let's listen in now to President Biden.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many thanks to the leadership of this organization.

You're right. I'm a county guy. One of the things you learn when you start off -- and I had the great honor of being a county council person in New Castle County.

We're like --

(SHOUTING)

BIDEN: -- Illinois. We have one county has about 60 percent of the state's population. So a county commissioner or council person has a district seven times larger than a state rep and three time bigger than a state Senator.

What I learned early on, if you are in the county, you got to go through someone else to get help. You got to go to the governor, you've go to your state legislators, you've got to go to your state Senators.

And guess what? I stopped that.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: No kidding.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Because I'm telling you, you know, one of the things that we expect people to do is we think people are like us, very familiar with all the detail -- is this working? Very familiar with all the details of how government works.

They don't know whether there is a pothole in their side street, whether it's a county, state, they don't know who is responsible. And they come to the county all the time. At least that was my experience in New Castle County.

[13:55:06]

And when you don't have the same funding you have for the other programs, you find it is just hard.

One of the things I found out early on was we always did better when there was direct funding for the things that related to the county.

I think it is one of the hardest jobs -- no, I really mean it. I'm not being solicitous. I think it is one of the hardest jobs in politics.

How many of you have knocked on a door and said, my name is so and so, I'm running for county commissioner, and they look at you and go, oh --

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: -- yes. You are wondering what the county commissioner does, aren't you?

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Well, yes. I sincerely mean it.

I want to thank -- begin by thanking you all for what you do. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I ran for the United States Senate because being in the county council was too hard.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Look, I am glad to be here with all of you.

Before I begin, I want to take a moment to say our hearts are with the students and families of Michigan State University. Last night, I spoke with Governor Whitmer and the FBI and additional

federal law enforcement are on the ground assisting the state and local folks.

Three lives have been lost and five seriously injured. It is a family's worst nightmare that's happening far too often in this country. Far too often.

While we gather more information, there is one thing we know to be true. We have to do something to stop gun violence from ripping apart our communities.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And today marks five years to the day when 14 students and three educators lost their lives in Parkland, Florida. I met every one of those families. Spent time with them all.

And a lot of you here have to confront violence in your communities every single day.

We took a big step toward passing the most significant bipartisan gun legislation in 30 years, background checks and other things.

But there is a lot more work to do. And I'm committing to getting it done with all of you.

Some of you know -- that I'm going to say something that is always controversial -- but there is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: We got it done once. We're going to do it again.

But, look, some of you know, as I said, I started as a councilman in Delaware and county executive and the New Castle County is here today, Matt Meyer.

HUNT: All right. We've been listening to President Joe Biden, who offered words of condolence to the families of those who lost loved ones in that tragic mass shooting at Michigan State University and, of course, talked about the guns that were used in that shooting.

We're going to take a quick break here. But don't go anywhere. We'll have much more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)