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CNN International: Biden Facing Mounting Economic and Political Challenges; U.S. Lawmakers Struggle to Reach Budget Agreement; Surge in Crossings Puts Some Cities at Breaking Point; Hollywood Writers and Studios Reach Tentative Deal; Asteroid Samples Safely Land on Earth; Ukraine: Odesa Port Infrastructure Hit In Russian Attack. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:30]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

NOBILO: Thank you so much.

FOSTER: Diving back in.

NOBILO: I think I still have some nitrogen bubbles in my brain. So we'll see how this goes.

FOSTER: But she's an expert diver now, and so things have changed a bit.

I'm Max Foster, joining you live here on CNN NEWSROOM.

NOBILO: Such warm spontaneity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's reached a tentative agreement with major film and television studios following days of marathon negotiating sessions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The WGA did put out a statement calling the deal exceptional, and saying basically that there was something for everyone in the guild.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The clock is ticking as a government shutdown deadline looms.

RALPH NORMAN, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: We will have a permanent shut down if we don't get this economic crisis handled in this country.

BRENDAN BOYCE, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: As long as they were in the majority in the House of Representatives, all of us are being held hostage, as well as the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new era for Kansas City. Taylor Swift was spotted this afternoon at the Chiefs game. In recent weeks, the artist has been in the center of romantic rumors involving Super Bowl champion tight end Travis Kelce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: Oh, let's get straight to Washington, where President Joe Biden is facing mounting policy and political challenges. This week, there are just days left for lawmakers to reach a deal on the federal budget or trigger a government shutdown. There's also the growing strike by the United Auto Workers Union, as well as a worsening immigration crisis over the border with Mexico.

NOBILO: U.S. lawmakers have until Saturday before the money runs out of the U.S. budget. And if that happens, some government operations with completely stall, with non essential employees being furloughed. Essential employees would still have a, job wouldn't get paid.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked through the weekend, pushing a short term deal that would temporarily fund the government until the end of the year. But hard-liners in his own party are still not willing to compromise.

FOSTER: Here's what lawmakers had to say on Sunday about the struggle to reach a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH NORMAN, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: We've done this, I don't know how many years, that's why we've got to do 32 trillion in debt. We're going to have a permit shut down if we don't get this economic crisis handled in this country.

BRENDAN BOYCE, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Various House Republicans have outright said they want a government shutdown. They think it would be a good thing. And Kevin McCarthy, let me say, he was actually honest over this weekend when he admitted that he had several members that, in his own words, want to burn the place down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: In addition to some government workers possibly being out of work and out of money, a shutdown could force U.S. National Parks to close. Other essential services, like border protection, law enforcement, and air traffic control could face problems as well.

FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden had a clear message for Republicans who are holding up the budget approval process, and that is start doing your job.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more from the White House. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The clock is ticking as a government shutdown deadline looms. And President Biden is warning of the very implications for Americans and saying it is the responsibility of Republicans to avoid a shutdown.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just a few months ago, after long held negotiations between myself and the new speaker, we agreed the spending levels of government will fund essential domestic and national security priority, while still -- while still cutting the debt by one trillion dollars over the next decade. Now, a small group of extreme Republicans don't want to live up to the deal. So now, everyone in America is forced to pay the price.

Funding the government is one the most basic responsibilities of Congress. And it's time for the Republicans to start doing the job America elected them to do.

ALVAREZ: Now, the Office of Management and Budget formally initiated the process on Friday of having agencies review their plans in the event of a government shutdown. That includes how many employees would be furloughed, who would be considered essential and have to work without pay, as well as what government activities and services would have to come to a halt.

Now for weeks, White House officials have been warning with the potential disruptions of a government shutdown on air travel, as well as the tool this could take on the economy. But Republicans try to project some confidence over the weekend that they could move forward and they can lay out a plan to avoid a government shutdown.

But the reality they face is they just don't have the votes yet among their own party members.

[04:05:08]

So, the White House and administration bracing for the very real possibility of a shutdown in a week.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Two new national polls are reflecting the mood of American voters for the 2024 presidential election. A poll by NBC News shows a very tight race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. It finds that both are tied at 46 percent.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, a poll by "The Washington Post" and ABC News suggests Trump has an advantage over Biden. It shows Biden trailing Trump by ten percentage points, and maybe an outlier.

However, U.S. Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell says she doesn't believe in the polls. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE DINGELL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: You are talking to the woman that everybody said was crazy when I told people that Donald Trump could and then would win Michigan in 2015, 2016. Polls are, you know, a snapshot in time. I didn't believe them. Everybody believes the polls, and they didn't believe me.

So, we're a year out. It's -- I think it's going to be close. Michigan is not a blue state, we are a purple state. I take this election next year very seriously.

But I just laugh at these polls, because I've been right. I have a good gut instinct. And I've been right and a lot of polls have been wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meantime, Trump is also leading in the Republican pack, with a broad advantage over his rivals. And NBC news poll finds he has the majority support with 59 percent.

FOSTER: The former U.S. president is leading his next closest competitor, Ron DeSantis, by a whopping 43 points, all the other candidates in the race or in the single digits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL HURD, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, this race is not over. And there's no question though that Donald Trump is the front runner and is the leader. And a national polling is a snapshot in time. There's still many weeks in time until the first states to start having voting.

But when you start drilling down some of the early states, let's take a place like New Hampshire, that lead narrows pretty significantly. And when you see about those Trump voters, yes, he has a -- I always call it a 30 percent of hard-core support that no matter what, they're going to support him.

But there's other -- there's a whole lot of other folks who voted for Donald Trump twice, recognizes he has a lot of baggage, and wants to see some of the other candidates and what they have to offer. And that's why we can't accept Donald Trump's nominee is a feat accompli, because ultimately, two thirds of Americans do not want to see a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It all comes as the second presidential Republican primary debate is set to take place on Wednesday in California. Once again, Trump will not be there. Instead, he's expected to speak before auto workers and union members in Detroit, Michigan.

NOBILO: It's interesting, part of a strategy seems to be behaving like an incumbent or president, and not a competitor. FOSTER: Above it.

NOBILO: Exactly.

U.S. President Joe Biden will speak traveling to Michigan this week to walk the picket lines with the strikers of the United Auto Workers. The trip comes after Biden faced political pressure to ramp up his support for union members. Meantime, House Republicans will hold their first hearing in the impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

The Thursday hearing will focus on constitutional and legal questions that Republicans are raising about the president.

FOSTER: Now to the unprecedented migrant surge that's overwhelming the U.S.-Mexico border. The Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador reportedly wants to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the crisis. According to Mexico's top diplomat, the leaders would discuss legal pathways offered to migrants, as well as the root causes of migration.

NOBILO: This comes after Mexican officials met with U.S. border authorities and agreed to ease the pressure caused by the influx. Mexico says it will start deporting migrants and prevent them from using its railway to reach the border. Officials in El Paso, Texas, say the situation is reaching a breaking point. Right now, the city is processing more than 2000 migrants per day.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, communities on the U.S. Mexico border say the current migrant surge could be driven by two factors. They say misinformation and an increase in kidnappings in Mexico, amongst other things, to be fueling the crossings. An official with an aid organization working near the border says it could also be due to threats of extortion in some Mexican towns. She says people enter the U.S. side out of fear for their lives.

NOBILO: The surging numbers at the border are raising political pressure on the Biden administration to stem that tide. Officials in cities like El Paso, Texas, say they're overwhelmed.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more now on the situation on both sides of the border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are so many immigrants arriving at U.S. border cities that local officials are having to resort to desperate measures. For example, El Paso had opened an overflow shelter for 400 people.

[04:10:01]

But that may not be enough, considering that local officials there say about 2,000 migrants are arriving to the city of nearly 700,000 people.

Mayor Oscar Leeser says his city has only so many resources. And right now, they're stretched to the limit. Or in his words, a breaking point.

The mayor expresses concerns only day after Mexico made an agreement with United States to deport migrants from their border cities to their home countries. Mexican officials also agreed to take a total of 15 actions to deter migrants from taking the perilous track north, including negotiating with origin countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Columbia, and Cuba. Allowing U.S. border patrol agents to expel migrants to Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, submitting a daily report on the number of migrants on cargo trains for Mexico traveling north, and establishing checkpoints on railroads and highways.

These actions can't come soon enough for border leaders like Leeser. This is how he described the situation his city is facing right now.

OSCAR LEESER, EL PASO MAYOR: The city of El Paso only has so many resources. And we've come to what we look as a breaking point right now. So we have to look at different resources. One of the things that we're doing is we're preparing for the unknown.

We have a broken immigration system. And this is a system we have to work within. And until it's fixed, we seem to be doing the same thing over and over again, keep spending this money, keep trying to find shelter, keep trying to make sure people are off the street, make sure community is safe, make sure they're safe. But in the end, the immigration system has not changed.

ROMO: And as this is happening at the border, it appears the Mexican president is willing to work with the White House. Alicia Barcena, Mexico's top diplomat, said at the U.N. Friday that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants to meet with President in November in Washington to discuss migration, drugs and firearms trafficking.

Barcena also said that Mexico is currently dealing with its own migration challenges, including the daily arrival of about 6,000 migrants to its southern border.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: To Hollywood, where striking writers could be back on the job within days. The Writers Guild of America says it's reached a tentative agreement with major film and television studios. Its aim to end a nearly five-month long strike and restart many productions that have been halted since May the 2nd.

NOBILO: The WGA calls the new deal exceptional, with meaningful games and protections for writers. The union could authorize members to work as early as Tuesday, even before the agreement is officially ratified.

CNN's media critic Brian Lowry says the strikes succeeded caused the guild stayed united.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRIAN LOWRY, CNN MEDIA CRITIC: The really interesting thing was the unity that the rioters maintained through the course of this. I think studios thought that the pain that was inflicted on the talent guilds would shake their evolve and make them -- they knew this was going to be a tough negotiation.

But you know, writers are not all the same. Future writers are little different from television writers. And veteran show runners are different from people who are just breaking in and maybe only have one or two credits.

So, to their credit, the yield managed to keep all of those various constituencies together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joining us now from Los Angeles's TV writer and showrunner Michael Jamin.

Thank you so much for joining us, and congratulations, I guess, on reaching the deal.

Do you understand any of the detail of it, or are you waiting to hear?

MICHAEL JAMIN, TV WRITER AND SHOWRUNNER: No, I just know that the guild is very excited. The details are, you know, forthcoming. But I'm very excited. So, yeah.

NOBILO: Now, is this a fait accompli, because, obviously the deal still needs to be approved by the board and the members? I think in 2008, it was a 90 percent agreement on the deal. So what is the threshold for accepting it officially?

JAMIN: I don't know, I think it's the majority. But I think the deal will go through pretty easily, given that the guild is pretty excited about this. In the past, they haven't been as excited though.

FOSTER: Just take us through the most important thing about this whole process for you. Obviously, you have all made sacrifices to get to this point. What was the most important part of the deal you had to reach with the studios?

JAMIN: Well, there are three main issues. One was regulating the use of A.I. The second was about residuals, getting residuals, and also, the third was the term length of our contract. So, basically, how writers are hired and how they're paid.

So, according to the guild statement, all these issues were addressed in a way they are very excited about. So, no -- it seems like no writers were really left behind here.

NOBILO: And how have rioters and yourself then spending this time when I have been working, while the negotiations have been ongoing?

JAMIN: Well, this is part of the problem with the -- so the last strike was 2008. And the leverage back in 2008 as well, if you guys go on strike, you might be out of work for three months.

[04:15:05]

And at the time, it was like, yikes, I don't want to be out of work for that long.

But, now, the strike is in 2023, it was really about so many rioters weren't working. So now we're being unemployed for let's say six or even nine months out of the year. So they lost that leverage. Now when they say can you afford to be out of work for three months, that's an improvement. So, many of us had already picked up part-time gigs already because we're not able to pay our bills.

FOSTER: Yeah, it's interesting, because so much has been made of the unity all shown for each other, but as he said, it was a very different time.

How long do you think it would take to get all the scripts in place, get shows running again properly? I know you're obviously waiting for the actors to reach a deal on your side. Will get back up and running pretty quickly?

JAMIN: If the show is already in mid production, if it was shut down in mid production, you can get, things the writing staff and meet up again in a matter of weeks, as soon as the content was ratified and you can start writing immediately. If the show had already gone down, if it was in hiatus or in between seasons, then you need, let's say, at least three months of free production time for scripts to be written. So, it really depends on the shows shut down.

NOBILO: It's fantastic to hear, you know, in what you're saying and how excited the yield is in what they've managed to achieve. But looking ahead, what do you think is going to continue to be the biggest challenge for riders in trying to make sure that they can stay unemployment and have a fair deal with the studios?

JAMIN: You know, I think the sentiment was that we could not come to an agreement, we couldn't get a fair deal, the future of screenwriting as a career was really going to go away. So the fact that the guild seems to be very happy with this, it seems like we can breathe easy, at least for another three years. So, that's a lifetime.

FOSTER: There will be new technology by then to worry about.

Michael Jamin, thank you for joining us.

JAMIN: Yeah, thank you for having me.

NOBILO: Great to see him so optimistic and excited. Huge relief.

FOSTER: Wow, they have been through it, haven't they? Yeah.

NOBILO: Yeah.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is also pleased that writers are returning to work soon. In a statement, he said I'm grateful the two sides of come together to reach an agreement that benefits all parties involved and could put a major piece of California's economy back to work. Heavy rains and possible landslides are likely in store for parts of the Pacific Northwest, ranging from Washington state down to California.

And it's all because of a powerful level four atmospheric river about to impact the U.S. west coast.

FOSTER: Parts of northern California and Oregon are under flood watches until Monday night, but they could be expanded. The rain could continue for days, thanks to the cold front associated with the atmospheric river. It comes as much of the West Coast is experiencing a severe drought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown. I repeat, (INAUDIBLE) has touched down.

(END VIDEO LCIP)

NOBILO: For the first time ever, a NASA spacecraft has brought samples from an asteroid back to Earth. And they could reveal secrets about life on our planet and about the origin of the solar system.

FOSTER: Wow. The capsule containing rock and dust from the near earth asteroid Bennu landed exactly as expected on Sunday in the Utah desert.

NASA is taking extraordinary measures to keep the samples pristine and free from any earthly contamination.

NOBILO: The capsule was dropped into the atmosphere from the spacecraft Osiris-Rex, which is now on its way to another asteroid. Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains just how extraordinary this mission has been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: We launch a space probe from earth, itself a moving platform, to intersect an asteroid, itself a moving target, and then touches and go -- does a touch and go off of that asteroids surface, and grabbing anything it could when it hit. We expected maybe a couple of ounces, but it got, like, eat, half a pound of material got grabbed up into the detail.

Then that continued on to re-intersect earth, deploy that capsule, and then it kept going and it's on to another asteroid. And so, yes, it is rocket science. And yes, it's a brilliant feat. And I look forward to more of this in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, later today, the samples will be flown to a special lab at the Johnson space center in Houston, where scientists will soon have a chance to analyze them.

NOBILO: This is a huge deal, as we're saying, the beginning of a new --

FOSTER: Also, the scientists seeing it for the first time, you know, before any humanize have set sight on it. Exciting.

NOBILO: Still ahead for you this, our reports of aerial attacks in Ukraine and Russian held territories. We'll tell you how both countries are responding to the overnight barrage.

FOSTER: Plus, a U.S. senator loses more support for his party, days after being charged with bribery.

[04:20:02]

Details on the growing list of lawmakers urging Bob Menendez to resign.

NOBILO: And the pope princess who has played Arrowhead Stadium before, but never like this. Details, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other of launching aerial attacks overnight. Russian officials say they've destroyed several Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and occupied Crimea, but a few of them damaged buildings in the Kursk region. Ukraine says Russia fired more than 30 drones and missiles on the Odessa region. Officials say most were shot down, but Russia did hit Odessa's port infrastructure in caused a fire at a hotel that was not operational.

FOSTER: The attacks happened after Ukrainian president wrapped up a trip to the U.S. and Canada, where he secured additional support, including an agreement between Kyiv and Washington to produce weapons together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have a historical decision by the U.S. to jointly produce weapons and defense systems, including air defense. This is something that was an absolute fantasy until recently. But it will become a reality. We will make it a reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:03]

NOBILO: CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now. Clare, two key topics to get through this morning.

So let us know about what happened last night, what are the key details, but also this new deal, and these discussions between the Ukraine and the U.S., and the wider context of worries about the outcome of the next election might diminish support for Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, taking Odessa, what happened overnight was a pretty significant Russian combined drone and missile attack. Ukraine's air defense is very effective. They say they managed to shoot down all 19 Shahed drones, and all but three of the missiles that were launched. This does significant damage around port area, hotel that have been in operation for years, granaries, port infrastructure.

No indication as of yet that any of the buildings were used for any military purpose, even though Odesa is of course the headquarters of Ukraine's navy.

But we had this tweet from Ukraine's defense ministry that says the attack on Odessa was, they call it a pathetic attempt at retaliation. It's quite small, not true he can read it, but a pathetic attempt at retaliation for a successful hit at the Russian navy HQ in Sevastopol.

So they are saying that this is Russia retaliating for that. By the wider context, of course, as we've seen Odessa hit multiple time since the green deal clapped in the middle of July. Russia continuing and we saw this morning, granaries hit. Meanwhile, Russia, of course, is exporting beat in record volumes. And Ukraine is trying valiantly to get it sweet out through its own unilateral maritime corridors very slowly, facing other hurdles as well.

So, that's the context there. In terms of the deal in Washington, you know, Zelenskyy has to bring him something. He didn't bring him ATACMS, so he's talking up this joint production agreement.

The U.S. side is not seeing as much about it. All we know from President Biden's they are apparently going to host conference in the fall to bring together members of the defense industries from both countries, representatives of government, to try to figure this out. Zelenskyy says several agreements have already been signed. The talk about, this it could be joint legal entities, joint ventures, we've seen similar things with European defense companies. But we don't know exactly what kind of shape that will take.

But clearly, part of Ukraine's effort to bolster its own defense industry for the long term.

NOBILO: And very interesting, given we don't know what's happening in the next election, as you and I've have been discussing before, defense deals and procurement deals, they're structured over a very long period of time. So, they might be able to supersede a potential political change.

Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.

FOSTER: Still ahead, more fallout for their indictment of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. Details on the latest Democratic lawmaker urging him to resign.

NOBILO: And then, California is bringing in a new tool to try and stop wildfires before they become infernos, artificial intelligence. We'll show you how it works and how well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)