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CNN International: Nikki Haley Campaigns in South Carolina, Migrants Waiting for Shelter in New York; Putin Scrambles to Project Economic Stability in Russia; French Farmers Plan to Blockade Paris; Chiefs to Face 49ers for NFL Championship. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 29, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Republican try to pass the national ban on abortion, I will veto it and consider that a promise made and a promise will be kept.
If you reelect me and Kamala with a Democratic House and a bigger majority in the Senate this November, imagine a future where we restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was also in South Carolina this weekend, even though the state's GOP primary doesn't take place until February the 24th.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: For Haley, this is home turf, of course. And early on Sunday, she attended church services in Lexington. The pastor told attendees she'd been a member for two decades. At a campaign event later on, she took aim at her main rival, Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to have mental competency tests for anybody over the age of 75.
He took offense to that, and I think it hurt his feelings. You can't hide behind the teleprompter at his rallies. He really needs to come face to face. Man up, Donald. I know you can do it.
I think we're getting under his skin. Just saying. I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Haley's been taking shots at Trump on the campaign trail for some time now. CNN's Eva McKend has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Nikki Haley beginning her second campaign event of the weekend in her home state of South Carolina by holding a moment of silence for the victims of the Jordan attack.
And then she pivoted to the new normal for Nikki Haley, and that is just unloading on former President Donald Trump, arguing that the chaos and the drama that surrounds him is exhausting. She knocked him for not debating. And she said that America deserves answers and that Donald Trump won't give them.
She did have to contend with quite a few hecklers at this rally, though. She laughed it off. Take a listen to what she told the crowd.
HALEY: And that doesn't mean --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Donald Trump.
CHANTING: (INAUDIBLE)
HAYLEY: Y'all, don't let it bother you. That's what Trump does. He does disruption. That's the only way he thinks he can win is by planting people like this.
MCKEND: And so, what you're hearing from Haley there, a very different version than what we heard the last few weeks and months, where she really reserved attacks against Trump to specific policy matters. So, talking about how the national debt exploded, for instance, under his administration.
But now the attack's becoming much sharper, much more pointed, as only the two of them remain in this Republican primary. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Trump campaigned in Las Vegas this weekend. He's pushing Nevada Republicans to turn out for the GOP caucuses on February 8th. There will also be a primary, but the caucuses will determine who gets the state's 26 delegates.
FOSTER: Complicated, isn't it, there? As for those competency tests Haley keeps mentioning in her campaign speeches, Trump says he's all for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONAL TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll tell you what, I feel sharper now than I did 20 years ago. I really do.
I think taking certain tests, cognitive tests, aptitude tests, I think that would be a good thing, personally. Not based on age. I don't care if you're 35 years old. But we want intelligent people. I think everybody running for president and vice president should take a cognitive test, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: A key negotiator on a possible border deal in the U.S. says the text of a compromise could be ready to go on the Senate floor in the coming days. But Democratic Senator Chris Murphy adds that its passage depends on whether Republicans are willing to ignore former President Donald Trump's opposition and support the bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): We do have a bipartisan deal. We're finishing the text right now. And the question is whether Republicans are going to listen to Donald Trump, who wants to preserve chaos at the border because he thinks that it's a winning political issue for him. Or whether we are going to pass legislation, which would be the biggest bipartisan reform of our border and immigration laws in 40 years. And would give the President of the United States, whether that president is a Republican or a Democrat, new important power to be able to better manage the flow of people across the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Biden has endorsed the bipartisan border deal, but House Speaker Mike Johnson is already warning it'll face strong opposition in his chamber.
Now, thousands of migrants have arrived in New York City since last spring. Some of them bused from the southern border. New York Mayor Eric Adams has warned the city is running out of shelter space.
NOBILO: CNN's Gloria Pazmino reports from Randalls Island, where some migrants are waiting in the snow and rain for a place to go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warm meal after a day of cooking over an open flame on a shopping cart turned stove outside Randalls Island migrant tent city. Robinson Bata says he shares this pot of rice with fellow migrants on the island, home to one of New York City's sprawling tent facilities, built with capacity to house 3,000 men and women.
[04:35:04]
Robinson, 31 years old, is from Colombia. Just one of the more than 170,000 migrants who have arrived here in New York City since the spring of last year. More than 68,000 of them are still in the care of the city and space is running out. For now, Robinson counts himself among the lucky ones.
He says he's at a shelter in the Bronx that's safe, a hotel where there are cameras and security. But it's different here on Randalls Island. The massive facility has security but no metal detectors.
Two weeks ago, a 24-year-old man was stabbed in the neck during a fight that resulted in 18 arrests, according to police. And earlier this month, a man was stabbed and killed after a fight broke out inside the tent cafeteria.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): It's still an investigation, but it's horrific, you know, to have someone come here to pursue the American dream and see it turn into a nightmare, to lose a life.
PAZMINO (voice-over): CNN has learned there are dozens of security cameras around the island, and the city is in the process of installing more. In the meantime, the administration is also exploring a plan to install metal detectors. While Mayor Adams continues to plead for federal intervention, his administration has put strict limits on shelter stays.
ADAMS: Our humane policy that would tell the single adults 30 days, children and families 60 days.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Back at the food stalls, migrants make do with what they have, a steaming pot of coffee and pastries to fry. Sold by migrants at $2 a pop, it will help keep some of them warm overnight.
This makeshift camp provides shelter to dozens of migrants who are waiting for placement inside the big tent and city shelters. The crude setup is just one reminder of the struggle migrants here in New York continue to face as winter drags on. Still, Robinson is hopeful.
PAZMINO: The reason for the hat is he says, well, this is the American flag, and the American flag is what's helping me out right now, so I wear it with pride because he's telling me he's hopeful that in the next few months his situation will improve significantly and he'll be able to get settled and provide for his family back home.
PAZMINO: Now, New York City is just one of the few municipalities around the country that guarantee the right to shelter. The city is currently in the middle of a legal fight to make some changes to that rule, something that advocates have criticized.
The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless tell us that those changes to the rules are simply pushing people onto the street.
I'm Gloria Pazmino in New York, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: As Moscow pours more money into its war on Ukraine, we'll explain how Russians are starting to feel the economic impact at home and how it's threatening Putin's image of stability during an election year. That is next on CNN.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: As the war grinds on in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to project an image of economic stability in Russia, but it's proving difficult.
FOSTER: Joining us now is Clare Sebastian. You've been looking into this.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so obviously inflation is a problem in Russia. We've seen it accelerating since the summer. At the same time as the rest of the world has seen it coming down. So, this is obviously unique to Russia. It's directly linked to the war, which we'll go into in a minute.
But I think what is more important about this is that it's not just about a gradual rise in overall prices. What we're seeing is that certain supermarket staples, and in particular we're looking at eggs, have gone up dramatically. It's something like 60 percent every year. It was almost 20 percent between November and December. That increases the likelihood that people are A, going to notice it, and B, going to start to make the connection between their grocery baskets and the war. And what we're seeing is that that is a situation that the Kremlin has not been able to ignore. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): When your husband spoils you with expensive presents, reads the caption. Russian social media brimming with egg memes.
Making light of a new feature of Russia's upside-down war economy. Sudden and unexpected price rises. Drive an hour outside Moscow, though, and it's no laughing matter for these pensioners.
Of course, we notice it. The pension is 13,000 rubles, says Lyubov (ph). That's less than $150 per month.
Maybe we buy less meat, says Nadezhda (ph). There's still enough for medicines.
Egg prices rose 18 percent in December alone, Russian official data shows.
More than 60 percent over the year. Far outstripping overall inflation at 7.4 percent.
As images spread of lines forming outside supermarkets, this purportedly from Belgorod in December, Russia's president forced into damage control mode.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): I am sorry about this and want to apologize for this problem. This is a setback in the government's work. Although they say this is not the case, I still think it is. The problem is related to a failure to increase imports enough.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The government took the not-so-subtle hint. Eggs were exempted from import duties for six months, and shipments started arriving from Turkey, Azerbaijan, and staunch ally Belarus also ramping up supplies. Its president unable to resist a rare dig.
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Our own production covers our needs in terms of grain, pork, chicken, milk, vegetable oils, and chicken eggs.
PUTIN (through translator): Send some to us. Don't be greedy. SEBASTIAN (voice-over): In Putin's surprisingly resilient war economy, the egg crisis reveals the biggest problem is not decline but overheating. Putin says this is about higher demand because of slightly higher wages. Partly true, economists say, but what Putin doesn't say is why wages are up.
SEBASTIAN: This labor shortage is a huge issue, right? Where does that come from?
ELINA RIBAKOVA, SENIOR FELLOW, PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: Mobilization. I think to me the key issue here is the fact that there are a lot of deaths at war and then they have to be replaced. These people have to be replaced. You know, the Russian officials trying to keep it very quiet, the numbers of how many people have died.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The weaker ruble, a direct result of sanctions, has also pushed up import costs for poultry producers. And then there's the wartime spending.
DR. RICHARD CONNOLLY, ASSOCIATE FELLOW AT RUSI: The budget for 2024 envisages even adjusted for inflation, record levels of federal government expenditure.
[04:45:00]
So when you put that alongside a, you know, a supply-side tightness with a massive increase in demand, driven by the state, you've got a recipe for inflation.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): President Putin now poised for the next price spike, a threat to his image of stability ahead of March elections, but likely not his presidential shelf life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN (on camera): There's not exactly a crisis for Putin yet, but it is something that we are going to continue to see, this sort of whack-a-mole situation where the Kremlin has to deal with these pockets of overheating. As they happen, now, obviously what this shows us deep down, especially if you look at the Russian budget for this year, is that they are putting the war first and the people are going to have to keep paying the price. Defense spending, according to projections for this year, will be triple what it was before the war.
They're paying more to service their debt, which they didn't even have really before the war, than they are on healthcare and education. Interest rates are back up at some 16 percent, which is close to the peak that we saw at the start of the war.
So, people are increasingly paying for this, and I think the question is, how many people, when people start to make the connection between this and the war, especially as we're starting to see the seeds of that already, some sort of pockets of anti-war sentiment rising, and I think this is why the Kremlin cannot afford to ignore this.
FOSTER: OK, thank you so much, Clare.
Now, farmers in France are planning to encircle Paris as part of their protest for better pay and living conditions. The farmers held similar protests outside Paris on Friday, shutting down roads.
But government officials pledged to keep Paris open for business. They're planning to mobilize 15,000 police officers and other law enforcement to maintain order.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALD DARMANIN, FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): The second instruction is obviously for law enforcement to show great moderation, as I have done since the start of this protest movement, toward protesters and farmers.
We do not seek escalation. We want people to be respected, first of all, law enforcement, and for property to be respected. We don't intend to allow government buildings or tax collection buildings or grocery stores to be damaged or trucks transporting foreign produce to be stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen is showing her support, taking a ride in a tractor, and saying France's position as Europe's largest food grower is essential to national security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARINE LE PEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RALLY GROUP (through translator): If agriculture is sinking in France, our entire country is sinking, because our country is a great agricultural power. And if it renounces to be one, then it is also our sovereignty and our food security which will sink. We must therefore put in place a major agricultural rescue plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Many European farmers are worried about crops entering the EU market from countries with fewer regulations.
FOSTER: Now, are you ready for it? Taylor Swift is. The Kansas City Chiefs will meet the San Francisco 49ers in this year's Super Bowl. Highlights from both playoffs and the picture, next.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The teams for the Super Bowl 58 are now set. The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers.
Our Coy Ware has more on both games, reporting from Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COY WIRE. CNN SPORTS: Detroit was looking to make it to their first Super Bowl in franchise history, and things started off great. Lions fans erupting here at a watch party at Ford Field in Detroit.
Powered by a punishing ground game, the men from Motor City went full throttle on the 49ers in the NFC title game. Detroit was up 24-7 at halftime, but then led by last year's last pick in the NFL draft, quarterback Brock Purdy and San Francisco fight back in the fourth quarter to overcome the largest halftime deficit in conference championship history, getting a 34-31 win.
KYLE SHANAHAN, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS HEAD COACH: The guys didn't want today to be the last day, and we put ourselves in a hole, but they played like it in the second half, and we were able to get the ball to bounce the right way, and we made up for what we did in the first half.
BROCK PURDY, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS QUARTERBACK: Went out, we all knew what we had to do. Season's on the line, we're down 17, so I think everybody stepped up, and we played really good, complimentary team football from there.
WIRE (voice-over): Lions fans heartbroken after an historic collapse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heart's really hurting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little speechless, heartbroken. Some things I just don't understand, why we didn't go for the field goal. And as I look at the score at all, we blew a 17-point lead.
WIRE (voice-over): Kansas City facing Baltimore in the AFC title game. Chiefs got on the board first with Mahomes and Kelce, connecting for their record-extending 17th postseason touchdown.
The Ravens self-destructed. A short touchdown by rookie Xavien Zay Flowers turned into a turnover when the Chiefs' defense forced a fumble. Then MVP frontrunner Lamar Jackson throwing into triple coverage, leading to another Baltimore turnover heartbreak for Baltimore, and Jackson, who's now 2-4 in his playoff career.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: You never know how many you're going to get to, or if you're going to get to any. And so, it truly is special.
ANDY REID, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HEAD COACH: When it came time to put the hammer down, they put the hammer down, which was important. And the best part is we're not done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Believe it, baby, we're going to Las Vegas, Nevada, so go get us another one.
WIRE (voice-over): 17-10 the final. Mahomes on to his, count them, first, second, third, fourth Super Bowl in six seasons as a starter. The Chiefs chasing a third Super Bowl title in five years. This sets up the rematch.
WIRE: The 49ers and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl for a second time in four seasons. Super Bowl 58 is in Las Vegas on February 11th.
Coy Wire, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: And as if the Super Bowl ratings weren't already high enough, this Super Bowl could be off the charts with a massive boost from the Swifties.
FOSTER: Yes, Taylor Swift fans will have a rooting interest. Is that a phrase? In her boyfriend. Sorry, I was just reading it. Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. Swift, of course, was there in Baltimore on Sunday greeting her man with a kiss and a hug after their win. And Kelce was certainly fired up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: The Chiefs are still the Chiefs and believe it. You got to fight for your life. To Party! Believe it baby, we're going to Las Vegas, Nevada. So, go get us another one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: I think we need more of you, Max, talking about romance and being descriptive on the show early in the morning. Something everybody's after.
FOSTER: I'm sure they're not.
NOBILO: But it's no sure thing whether or not Swift will actually attend the Super Bowl because she'll be touring in Tokyo next month with her final show set for February 10th, which is one day before the big game.
FOSTER: She'll be there.
NOBILO: Exactly, because she'll take a private plane. But the time change is actually in her favor as well, so she could definitely make it in time to be there in Las Vegas.
FOSTER: We need her on the show as well. I mean, without those two, we wouldn't have this final block.
NOBILO: It definitely adds another element to the NFL stories, one which I understand, so I'm very grateful for it. So, thank you, Taylor, for that.
FOSTER: Thanks, Taylor.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I am Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN. And you'll be doing a cameo, as usual, so stay tuned for that.
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