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CNN International: Biden Takes Message To Campaign Trail After Fiery Speech; Biden Directs U.S. Military To Establish Aid Port In Gaza; EU, UAE, U.S., UK Mobilizing To Deliver Large Aid Shipments To Gaza By Sea. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 08, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
President Biden is hitting the campaign trail today after delivering a forceful State of the Union address. So, how will the speech affect his reelection campaign? Our panel will discuss. Donald Trump spent last night reacting to Biden speech on social media. Today, however, he will meet with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Plus, yet another scare in the air, shortly after taking off from San Francisco, a Boeing plane loses a tire mid-air. We are live with the latest on the investigation and to the cause, straight ahead.
Well, President Biden is hitting the road today, taking his message directly to voters, on the heels of a really fiery State of the Union address. It was high drama on Capitol Hill as the President delivered a passionate speech, seemingly pushing back against critics who say that he is not fit to serve four more years. Biden focused on his campaign's key issues of the economy, abortion and immigration, and willingly sparred with Republicans. And while the campaign is calling a "March month of action", Mr. Biden will travel to Pennsylvania today before visiting Georgia on Saturday. Both of those, of course, are battleground states. Other top administration officials like Vice President Kamala Harris will also be hitting the trail. Biden's campaign is hoping to build on the momentum from last night's State of the Union address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When America gets knocked down, we get back up. We keep going. That's America. That's you, the American people. It's because of you America is coming back. It's because of you our future is brighter. And it's because of you that tonight we can proudly say the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And President Biden also used his State of the Union address to announce a major new effort to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying that life-saving supplies cannot be used as a "bargaining chip".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Tonight, I'm directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments, carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. No U.S. boots will be on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: U.S. officials say that this effort builds on an initiative in Cyprus for maritime aid corridor to Gaza. The EU Commission President visited the port of Larnaca today, saying that she hopes that the emergency corridor will open this weekend.
Let's bring in our -- CNN's Jeremy Diamond who is live in Tel Aviv for more. Jeremy, give us a sense of just the reaction to this idea, both there on the ground and Israel and the region, this announcement for the President.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israel is actually welcoming this step to open up this maritime corridor, and the United States choosing to come in and build an emergency temporary pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel saying, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that this will allow the increase of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip after security checks are carried out, and that's because security checks will be conducted on shipments of aid in Cyprus before they then transit towards the Gaza Strip.
But, it's important to note that this step announced by President Biden is not an immediate term solution to the crisis that Gaza is currently facing. He made clear and U.S. officials made clear that this was an effort that will likely take weeks, if not months, to actually stand up this port and to allow for the sufficient entry of aid. In the meantime, though, the United States continuing to bring more pressure to bear on Israel to open up more land routes into Gaza, and the President indicating last night that Israel is set to open an additional border crossing from the lands, from Israel directly into northern Gaza. That is something, of course, that the U.S. and other countries have been pressing Israel to do for weeks now.
And what's interesting, of course, about these maritime efforts, these airdrops that we are also seeing, is the fact that they really underscore the failure of the current system, the failure of the United States and other countries to pressure Israel to deliver sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza, because by land is the most efficient way to bring the aid in. And yet, for now, it's simply hasn't been happening. Rahel.
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SOLOMON: And Jeremy, what up out by air? I mean, those humanitarian airdrops continue, but those are said to be risky operations. What's the latest there? DIAMOND: Yeah. Well, when those began about two weeks ago in earnest, as multiple countries began dropping aid on Gaza, it was viewed as kind of a last resort effort, because it is inefficient, because it is costly, and also because it is risky. And we are seeing those risks now playing out in real time today.
Five people were killed, at least 10 people were injured, when several pallets of aid dropped by one of these countries' air forces came crashing down. It appears to have been a mishap. One of the parachutes appear to not have properly deployed. Others appear to be tangled up. But, the result was that several pallets of aid came crashing down near the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, as people were looking to the sky, hoping that that aid would come and help them survive for another day. Instead, for at least five people, it brought about their death. And this, of course, is just compounding the misery that we are seeing on the ground in Gaza, and again, underscoring the need for more aid to be brought in by land.
SOLOMON: Yeah, just a really tragic development. Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, thank you.
Let's begin today's panel from Washington to discuss last night's State of the Union. With me now is Nathan Gonzales. He is the Editor and Publisher of "Inside Elections". That's a nonpartisan campaign analysis site. Also with us is Sabrina Siddiqui. She is a White House Reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Welcome both.
Nathan, let me start with you. As you know, the word that has been used to describe last night is often fiery. I mean, I can't tell you how many -- I've lost count of how many times I have seen fiery this morning. And here is just sort of a montage of some of them this morning. How does last night change the race moving forward, if at all?
NATHAN GONZALES, EDITOR & PUBLISHER, INSIDE ELECTIONS: Well, on an empirical level, we don't know yet. I mean, we have to wait a few weeks. We have to wait even a month or so before we know. Let this -- let the coverage of the speech seep in. Let people wrestle with whether they think it changes their opinion of what job President Biden is doing. And that's going to be -- that's going to take time to get people to get polls out in the field and digest those.
But, I think this is the speech that Democrats needed. They -- President Biden has been taking on water. He has been criticized over and over for his ability, and Republicans lowered the bar so low that he really had an opportunity to sail over it, and I think he did. It gave Democrats the vision that this could happen, meaning, this campaign. They feel more comfortable. And there is a roadmap on issues of where the party can go up until November.
SOLOMON: Yeah. One of the issues, Sabrina, we know that Biden frequently takes hits on is his age. He tried to sort of poke fun at the issue at his own expense last night. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I know it may not look like it, but I've been around a while. When you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: So, Sabrina, talk to us a bit about the reaction on that issue, because we should say that critics, including the former President Donald Trump say, that he actually came across as angry.
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, I think that President Biden quite deliberately embraced his age. And what you saw there was what he has done in the past, which is tie it to his experience, and once again, frame his age and his experience as an asset that -- he has had decades of experience in public service. That also in turn, as he said, makes his vision for the country much clearer. This is, of course, coming as he has -- there have been many, many polls. It's not just attacks from his opponents, but polls among American voters and even Democratic voters expressing concerns about his age. There were, of course, many Democratic voters who said they would have preferred someone else at the top of his ticket this time around.
So, this speech was really an opportunity for the President, I think, not just to talk about his accomplishments in his first term and lay out what his agenda would be for a second term, but to try and assuage some of those concerns around whether or not he is up to the task, whether or not he has the stamina or the energy. And so, I think that's why you saw him really very combative affirmative in his tone. As you said, fiery is a word that you're hearing from a lot of people. And I think the White House is pretty happy with how it went. And I think you'll probably see him continue and embrace his age even more on the campaign trail moving forward, because the best way the White House really sees the argument here is framing it as an asset and not a liability.
SOLOMON: Yeah. To that end, actually, standby Sabrina and Nathan for a moment. I want to get the White House point of view. Let's go to CNN's Arlette Saenz there and give us a sense of sort of how they are feeling on the ground. Also, the campaign announcing that they're hitting the trail for a month of action. What do we know about that? What will that look like, Arlette?
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rahel. Well, the Biden campaign is really trying to build off the momentum of President Biden's State of the Union address, and that will include travel by President Biden, Vice President Harris, but also a push to organize and turn out their voters heading into November's elections.
Now, the President will start that campaign blitz a little bit later today when he travels to Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state. He is there traveling to a suburb of Philadelphia. Of course, suburbs will be important to the Biden campaign as they're trying to court moderate, independent and female voters, especially around the issue of reproductive rights, something that President Biden spent a lot of time speaking to in the State of the Union address last night, as he tried to draw that contrast with the former presidents. Now, Biden, tomorrow, will head to Georgia. And then, next week, he is
planning to hit the states of New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Michigan, two of those being the critical blue wall that he will need to hold on to in November's election if he wants a second term in office. You have Vice President Harris who is traveling out to Nevada and Arizona.
But, it's not just campaign travel that the campaign is ramping up in the coming weeks. They are also focusing on their organizing efforts. That includes digital organizing and opening up those brick-and-mortar offices. They're looking to open about 100 new offices in battleground states in the coming weeks. That includes bringing on about 350 staff to start working with volunteers, working with organizers to get out the President's message. And then, there is the advertising campaign, big money planned around that. The campaign is eyeing about $30 million over a six-week period in the coming weeks. That will include television and digital ads, all trying to get the President's message out there in front of American voters.
But really, President Biden tried to use last night's speech to draw that contrast with the former President, and that will be a key focus for the Biden campaign as they are heading to November. They believe that soon voters will start to be tuning in, paying more attention to this campaign. The question is, how Biden will appear when he is out on the road? He was energized and fiery last night. A lot of voters want, Democrats want to see him do that on the campaign trail as well. Today could be a first key test of that.
SOLOMON: Arlette, talk to us about, there was a moment, I'm not exactly sure if the President realized it was a hot mic or if he wanted this message out or not, but it certainly come to light where he was caught talking about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tell us a little bit about what we learned.
SAENZ: Yeah. It's always interesting in the State of the Union addresses. The President is there interacting with lawmakers. He does have microphones near him. And one of the exchanges that was caught, actually our colleague, Jay McMichael was the man who was shooting right down the middle as the President walked and talked to those lawmakers, but he was caught talking to one Democratic Senator and some members of his team, talking about how he thinks there will be a "come to Jesus" moment, a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Take a listen and read also what exactly the President had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I told Bibi, don't repeat this. I said you and I are gonna have a come to Jesus meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, an aide swooped in to remind him that there were microphones nearby. And so, he kind of stopped himself. But, that comment is interesting because it comes as we have seen these tensions between the President and Netanyahu spill out into public view. The President has at times been critical and warned about Netanyahu's and Israel's campaign in Gaza. Last night, in his remarks, he spent a significant portion of speaking about the situation in Gaza, saying that more humanitarian aid needs to get in that the Israelis can't use this simply as a bargaining chip.
And so, this -- all has been coming as the President has been quite eager to try to get some type of deal in place by Ramadan, which is on Sunday, to get hostages out and more aid in. At the time, it doesn't appear that that's going to so quickly come together. But really, those hot mic moments from the President are rare insight into his views in Netanyahu, as some of the tension between the two leaders has spilled out into public view.
SOLOMON: Yeah. They can be really revelatory sometimes. CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz, thank you, Arlette.
Nathan, let me pick up with you. Who do you think the President was trying to target last night? And the reason why I ask is because, I mean, as you know, he has faced criticism from within his own party, among the more progressive wing, about his handling of Gaza. Was he trying to sort of reenergize his party, or do you think he was trying to reach the moderates, the independents, the Suburbans? What do you think?
GONZALES: Well, Rahel, the answer is yes. He was trying to reach all of those people I think with different pieces. Right now, every word is intentional. And I think that just specifically on the Israel and Gaza, that was to appease some folks in the left wing of the Democratic Party where he has faced significant criticism, and I think some of that, the initial reaction from AOC and others I think showed that at least talking intentionally about it in that way at least helped a little bit.
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But, overall, he was trying to energize Democrats and convince independents that the contrast between himself and a second Trump term is stark, and want people to think in that way.
SOLOMON: Sabrina, let me play for you a clip of the GOP response last night from the Senator from Alabama. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): President Biden just doesn't get it. He is out of touch. Under his administration, families are worse off. Our communities are less safe, and our country is less secure. I just wish he understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Sabrina, I'm wondering, based on what you're hearing and the response, was this a missed opportunity? I mean, the conversation this morning seems to be a lot less about what Senator Britt said and much more about how she said it. SIDDIQUI: All that -- I know my colleagues and I have been hearing
from Republican operatives, pollsters, lawmakers, is what happened there. So much of the conversation, as you say, is not focused on the substance of what Senator Katie Britt said, but on the style, on the delivery. And it was quite bizarre, or she was quite bizarre in her delivery. It's not actually how she typically speaks publicly. So, it is being seen by Republicans as a missed opportunity, especially because this was -- in an election year, really a key moment to highlight what Republicans see as issues of contrast with President Biden and his administration.
And Katie Britt is someone that they were excited about, because she has been seen as a rising star within the Republican Party, the youngest Republican woman elected to the U.S. Senate. But, clearly something in the preparation didn't quite go as planned. And I think, as you know, there is a lot more focus now on the way she said it, and not really what she said. And so, I think for Republicans, it absolutely is seen as a missed opportunity. But, at the same time, how many people, when it comes to the American public, are paying attention to the State of the Union rebuttal? I think that's something that's up for debate.
Really, ultimately, we are heading toward a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump, and most of the voters are going to be paying much more attention to what the President and the former President say between now in November. And this State of the Union rebuttal will probably make for a good SNL skit, but be forgotten come November.
SOLOMON: Well, no. It's a fair point that she is not running for President. But, you can point out some other GOP responses that have since lived on in infamy that we still talk about today. So, sometimes, moments become sort of moments.
Nathan, let me ask, how long have a shelf life do you think a strong state of the performance boost has? Because we're looking at just some of the reactions to the issues, and these are among people who watched the speech. So, that's something important to remember, not necessarily reflective of who is going to show up in November. But, on key issues, Nathan, the President got a double-digit jump in some of these areas. So, will Biden's policies move the U.S. in a right -- the right direction? He got a 17 percentage point jump there, pre-speech versus post-speech. Will his economic policies move the U.S. in the right direction? And 11 percentage point jump there. And will his immigration policies move the U.S. in the right direction? And 11 percentage point jump again among those who watched the speech?
So, Nathan, my question is, how long have a shelf life does a strong performance like State of the Union have?
GONZALES: Yeah. I'm skeptical about instant polls. I know it's not maybe fashionable to take a deep breath. I'm -- it's OK to wait a little bit longer until we get a sample of polls that have a sample of a broader group of the electorate, rather than just a specific people who watched the poll and watched the speech, because more people are going to consume the coverage of the speech rather than the speech itself. And so, that is going to matter.
We have to remember that public opinion around President Biden has not changed significantly in two and a half years. Like, ever since the -- our exit from Afghanistan and his job disapproval went higher than his approval rating, he has been an unpopular incumbent for two and a half years now. So, I'm skeptical that a speech is going to make a fundamental difference. But, even if he can make an incremental difference, that could matter in what I expect to be a close race.
SOLOMON: Fascinating. So good to have you both. Nathan Gonzales of "Inside Elections" and Wall Street Journal White House Reporter Sabrina Siddiqui, thank you both.
GONZALES: Thank you.
SIDDIQUI: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. Well, coming up, after touting job creation in last night's speech, President Biden is sure to be pleased with today's employment report, just out a few hours ago. We're going to dive in to the numbers just ahead.
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Plus, horrifying moments in the air as a Boeing jet loses a tire shortly after takeoff. We'll have the latest.
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SOLOMON: Strong and stable, the new U.S. jobs report shows promising signs for the labor market. Let's take a look at some of the numbers. So, around 275,000 jobs were added in the month of February. The unemployment rate, that did climb from January, now up to 3.9 percent. But, for contexts, for over two years now, the U.S. unemployment rate has been below four percent. That is very low. It's the longest stretch in more than 50 years.
Let's discuss all of this now with CNN's Global Economic Analyst Rana Foroohar, who joins us from New York. Rana, always good to have you, especially on a jobs Friday. Walk me through some of your takeaways from the report. Did we learn anything new about the labor market?
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yeah. We've learned, I think, that we are likely to see a rate cut this summer. Let me break that down. We still have a really, really hot jobs market, and in some ways that makes us worry about inflation. That makes the Fed concerned that maybe we're still in this really robust economy and we need to be careful to see inflation not tick up. But, this jobs report is interesting, because even though the numbers are strong, you did see unemployment tick up a little bit. Meanwhile, wage growth has moderated. And with inflation being pretty much down to where the Fed would like to see it target-wise, I think that probably argues for a rate cut in the summer.
Now, what that will mean, if that happens, is good things for the stock market. So, I got to say that we are still in what I would consider to be a Goldilocks market. We have a strong labor market. We have decent income growth, but it's not so hot that we're worried about inflation. There are still some black swans that could come. There is a lot going on in the world. But, this is a kind of a steady as she goes, maybe pointing to a rate cut later this year.
SOLOMON: So, sort of similar to what the President said last night, when he said the landing is and will be soft. You're saying that it seems like maybe the Fed got this right where they'll be able to bring down inflation without causing a significant spike in unemployment.
FOROOHAR: Exactly. And I got to stress, I mean, nobody thought that was going to happen. I didn't think that was going to happen. There been so many vectors in play, COVID, war in Ukraine and Gaza, U.S.- China tensions, almost everything, technological changes, anything that you can imagine has been coming at the Fed and coming at this economy. But, the plane does seem to be landing smoothly. Fingers crossed. So, that is something to be very happy about.
SOLOMON: Rana, let me ask, because you just mentioned some of those macro factors that the U.S. has experienced. But, not just the U.S. I mean, many countries around the world are also dealing with the impact of higher prices, also dealing with the impact of the fallout of the war in Ukraine.
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Let me play for you a clip of something the President said last night in the State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world. 15 million new jobs in just three years, a record, a record.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: So, Rana, would you say that that's a fair assessment that the U.S. is actually doing, we certainly hear that from the administration, but that the U.S. is doing better economically than a lot of our peers?
FOROOHAR: 100 percent. That is 100 percent factually true. The U.S. has done by far the best of any rich country coming out of COVID. A lot of European nations are suffering. The UK has been kind of a disaster, frankly. Even emerging markets, developing countries, China is in a slowdown. There are a lot of countries that really do and be the U.S. And honestly, it's been kind of amazing.
I think one of the key things here has been the consumers. Folks that lost their jobs were bailed out during COVID. And so, that built in cushion, allowed people to keep spending. That's been a big part of the story. Some of the fiscal stimulus around things like chips, infrastructure, Inflation Reduction Act has also been part of the story. And some of it has been that the U.S. is still the prettiest house on the ugly block. That is the global economy, sometimes. And so, people want to put their money here.
SOLOMON: Rana, let me ask, do you think that the top line numbers sometimes can mask signs of weakness in the labor market? And the reason why I ask is because one thing that you see time and time in the monthly jobs report is job growth in certain sectors, right, sectors like construction --
FOROOHAR: Yeah.
SOLOMON: -- retail trade, leisure and hospitality. These are a part of the economy that tend to be lower wage. But then, there are other parts of the economy where you're actually seeing flat or negative job growth, the more white collar parts of the economy. So, were there signs of weakness? Are there still signs of weakness in the labor market from what we can see?
FOROOHAR: So, the last few months have been really up and down on this score. There have been some months where it's exactly, as you say, you kind of have this bifurcated growth. And you're like, wait a minute. Where are the middle class jobs? Where are the -- aside from construction, which pays well, where are the white collar jobs, as you say? Other times, you see job growth across the board. Again, I think this reflects this very weird, interesting, odd, unusual period that we're in with this recovery where there is just a lot of things happening at once.
Take white collar jobs and AI, right, that there is a lot of change coming down the pike. 20 years ago, we saw roughly 10 percent of the labor force affected by the outsourcing of manufacturing to China. Now, we're about to see 30 percent to 40 percent of jobs affected by artificial intelligence, and we're just at the beginning of that. And so, I think you're going to continue to see these month-by-month reports that reflect lots of different things, and it's too soon to say what the underlying and long-lasting, I would say, trend is.
SOLOMON: And Rana, unfortunately, I'm being told to wrap, and I really just want to get just one-word response to you. Do you think that we're fully appreciating the type of shift that's about to happen in the labor market because of AI? I wonder if it's underreported.
FOROOHAR: Underreported, we'll talk about this again soon, I'm sure.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We will. All right. Rana Foroohar, so good to have you. Thank you.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. Coming up, a terrifying attack in northwest Nigeria. What police are saying about the hundreds of children who had been kidnapped? Plus, Hungary's right-wing leader is set to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. We're going to have more on Viktor Orban's trip live from Florida. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Headlines we're watching for you today. Disturbing news coming out of northwest Nigeria. Police say around 300 school children have been kidnapped, some as young as eight-years-old. They say that gunman raided a school in the state of Kaduna Thursday morning. Now, some of the students have been rescued, but at least 287 of them are still believed to be with the kidnappers.
The Japanese artist behind the popular manga and anime series Dragon Ball has died. Akira Toriyama's production studio has announced that he died last Friday from a subdural hematoma or a buildup of blood on the surface of the brain. Toriyama was 60-years-old.
And we are watching Turkey today. That's where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived for a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan. Mr. Zelenskyy has already tweeted about this visit to a Turkish shipyard where he said that ships are being built for Ukraine's Navy. The war with Russia is set to be on the agenda, along with reviving a Black Sea grain deal.
Well, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is set to host Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Florida today. But, the Biden administration says that Mr. Orban was not invited to the White House. Hungary is a NATO and EU member, but it frequently clashes with Europe on support for Ukraine. Now, Mr. Orban has also been very friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he has endorsed Trump for President. Now, Trump has his own history of bashing NATO while backing Russia, and he was called out for that at the State of the Union on Thursday. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, "Do whatever the hell you want." That's a quote. A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it's outrageous. It's dangerous, and it's unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes. She is live across the water from Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kristen, let me ask, what more can you share with us and what more can we expect to learn about this visit today?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, I want to start with the fact that you mentioned that the White House did not issue a formal invitation to Viktor Orban. Well, Viktor Orban also did not reach out to the White House to try and sit down with anyone in the Biden administration. I find this significant because he is sitting down with the former President Donald Trump. And the reason why this is so significant now, it's not just because he is a former President, but because he is the presumptive GOP nominee, and he could be President again. And it really gives us some insight into how Donald Trump might align
himself with world leaders if he is elected back to the White House. He has always had an affinity for strong men. He has always praised authoritarian leaders. In fact, about Viktor Orban in particular, he said that some people don't like him because he is a strong man. He is too strong. But, it's nice to have a strong man running your country. So, again, giving you some idea of what he values in leadership as he is once again seeking the White House.
The other thing to point out here is I've talked to a number of Donald Trump's team. They're describing this as a "social meeting". Not really sure exactly what that means. They say it means it's just two people, friendly, sitting down without any agenda, but it seems a little bit more complicated than that when you have two leaders of this caliber sitting down together. We are told that we are likely to get some sort of readout, but they are not obligated to provide that because Donald Trump is not currently the sitting President. We are also told we might get some photos out of this meeting.
But, again, we will wait and see. We'll wait and try to report out for people who are sitting down with them, who are in that room. But, it is a little bit complicated because you're not talking about an official meeting between two world leaders. You're talking about really a civilian in Donald Trump and Victor Orban.
[11:35:00]
SOLOMON: A former leader and a current leader. All right. Laid out very well there. Kristen Holmes live for us in West Palm Beach. Kristen, thank you.
All right. Let's welcome in now CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer. He is a Historian and Professor at Princeton University. Julian, always good to have you. Look, the former President last night -- the current President last night did not mention the former President by name. And yet, he did refer to him often. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President -- My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th. Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. My predecessor and many in this Chamber want to take that rare prescription drug away by repealing the Affordable Care Act. If my predecessor is watching --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Julian, just really quick, what's the line between what's a political speech, political event, versus what's official business? Because the concern this morning, at least among some in the GOP, is that that was a political speech last night.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, & HISTORIAN & PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: I think you can't disentangle these, especially the ones that are given in an election year. And obviously, for Republicans to say that as some were wearing MAGA hats and yelling things out, kind of will seem a little hypocritical to many people. But, these speeches are always political and policy by nature.
SOLOMON: Fair enough. You have watched many of these speeches, I presume. You have seen many. You have covered many. Walk me through your reactions to last night. Was it a strong night for the President?
ZELIZER: It was. I think his performance was in some ways what was most important, could he perform in a way that he didn't seem that he was too old or that he was slow and delivery, and that was not what Americans saw. He did get through some of his accomplishments and reminded the country of what he has done. But, most important, politically, is he set the argument up for the campaign with a strong warning about what Trump, Trumpism, and the GOP would mean for a second term for him. And I think he accomplished all three goals.
SOLOMON: Julian, is it clear, based on your research, how long have a shelf life, an event, a strong performance on any given night, let alone the State of the Union, has for a potential candidate who is running again?
ZELIZER: Not much. I mean, historically, there are a few speeches, even the State of the Union that changes the way the electorate thinks of the President, this fades very quickly if it has an effect at all. So, more important is, does he use this as a foundation, if it is effective, and continue to carry this message as he goes to battleground states, as he appears in interviews? That's really where this can have an effect. But, the speech itself is not going to transform the electorate. And in a polarized age, it's even harder to do that.
SOLOMON: Let me play for you a snippet from the GOP response. And I should say, yesterday, I spoke with a GOP strategist who said there is no better person to deliver the GOP response than the Senator from Alabama, Katie Britt. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITT: President Biden just doesn't get it. He is out of touch. Under his administration, families are worse off. Our communities are less safe, and our country is less secure. I just wish he understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Julian, these responses sometimes can take on a life of their own, and sometimes really live in infamy. I'm just -- I'm curious sort of your response to the GOP response. And was it effective for them?
ZELIZER: Yeah. I don't think it'll be so effective. I don't know how many people will have heard. And there is a long history of the people giving these speeches not doing well after they have done that. The most famous was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who was spoken of as maybe a future President. After he did this, didn't go well. It's the comparison with the President speaking in Congress. You can just never match up to that. So, I don't think much will come of it, and we'll see how it affects her career.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Talk to me a bit, though -- I mean, the difference is, even those who were not watching last night are probably on Instagram this morning. They're probably on Twitter this morning, or X. They're probably on Facebook. I mean, these moments when they -- when they're clipped to social media, sort of expands, and even to -- even in terms of whether the President gets any credit. It's not just who watched last night, but then how it sort of amplified in the days and weeks to come.
ZELIZER: I think that's important. I would say it is still a widely viewed event, more than almost any other political event. It's the one time we still have this. So, the viewership was significant.
[11:40:00]
But, you're right. Part of this is going to be not just the speech and watching the speech, but what happens with the clips. It's a bits and pieces kind of politics. And some of the effects, we're going to see. It might be a week until we really have a sense of what's picked out, how those pieces are interpreted or manipulated, and that will be part of the aftermath of this kind of speech now.
SOLOMON: Julian, one thing that we've learned is, in the back half of the President's speech, and the hour after his speech, and his campaign is reporting that they had some of their best fundraising hours today, I mean, in the campaign. I mean, does that give you a sense of whether, at least among supporters, at least among American voters, whether the President was effective at drumming up enthusiasm and support for his campaign?
ZELIZER: Yeah. I think it's a good measure. I mean, we have polls also showing a pretty favorable reaction. But, fundraising is very important, and it is a way to gauge how are people and big donors too feeling about what a person is doing. And this was a high profile, very visible performance. And I think if the money went up dramatically, if that -- those numbers are correct, well, then that's an indication people were pleased, and maybe there'll be less talk about how do you replace Biden in August as opposed to how do you support him right now,
SOLOMON: Julian, just really quick lastly, to your point about this being a huge audience and it being a strong night, would you say -- I've seen some say that this was perhaps the strongest speech of Biden's career or the most important speech of this campaign? Would you agree with that?
ZELIZER: It came at a key moment. He delivered it well. And I think this will change the narrative about him for the time being. So, I think it was a big moment in his presidency.
SOLOMON: Yeah. CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer, Julian, good to have your insights today. Thank you.
ZELIZER: Thank you. SOLOMON: All right. We now want to turn to developing news about
Donald Trump's legal troubles. The former U.S. President has posted bond of nearly $92 million. This is in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. Trump's team has also filed a notice that he will appeal the more than $83 million judgment in that same case. In January, a federal jury awarded the damages to Carroll as a result of Trump's defamatory statements.
Well still to come for us, on this International Women's Day, we will see how women in El Salvador are fighting against some of the harshest abortion laws in the world. Plus, a Boeing jet loses a tire, a tire, shortly after takeoff. How does this happen? We'll take you through the details.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Women around the world are taking to the streets today to celebrate their achievements and demand greater rights and gender parity. It's International Women's Day. And this was the scene in Rome.
[11:45:00]
Thousands of people and women marked the day by holding demonstrations against domestic violence in multiple Italian cities. You may have also seen a sea of white, Mr. Biden's State of the Union address last night. Democratic Congresswomen wore white to highlight the fight for reproductive freedom and the post-Roe v. Wade era. Mr. Biden talked about that Supreme Court decision with members of the court in the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. My God, what freedoms will you take away? Look, in its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect, justices. "Women are not without electoral power -- excuse me -- electoral or political power." You're about to realize just how much you can ride on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Human rights and women's rights groups in El Salvador are still fighting the country's total abortion ban. They're shining a light on cases where women who have suffered a pregnancy complication have faced criminal charges.
CNN's Isabel Rosales has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lilian just spent seven years in a Salvador prison. The 28-year-old was sentenced to 30 years behind bars. Lilian was convicted of abandonment and neglect, and later for aggravated homicide and the death of her newborn baby. She says the child suffered health complications, and while under a doctor's care, died just 72 hours after birth,
LILIAN, RELEASED FROM PRISON (Interpreted): If they had detected the girl's illness in time, she would not have died. I would not have lost so many years of my life in prison. I would not have missed my other daughter's childhood.
ROSALES (voice-over): Lilian said she was undergoing a procedure for a tear in her uterus and was sedated when the baby died. But, prosecutors accuse her of not taking care of the fetus during pregnancy.
LILIAN (Interpreted): They wanted to free themselves from blame. So, they accused me of having killed, abandoned and neglected her. The police came to arrest me at the hospital.
ROSALES (voice-over): El Salvador has one of the strictest abortion laws in the Americas. And the government makes no apologies, saying those who break the law will be prosecuted. But, with the help of human rights organizations and women's rights groups, some Salvadoran women are rising up against the country's total abortion ban and harsh criminal penalties. Abortion advocates argue the ban has put women in prison who have suffered complications during pregnancy, like in Lilian's case, or in miscarriages. A campaign over the last decade to free women serving long sentences has led to the release of 73 women from prison. Lilian was one of them.
LILIAN (Interpreted): I am very happy to have been reunited with my family. I am infinitely grateful to all the people who supported me during this process and who fought for freedom.
ROSALES (voice-over): Alba Lorena Rodriguez, so she became pregnant at 21 after being raped. Five months into her pregnancy, she went into premature labor and the newborn died. She says she was arrested at the funeral of her stillborn baby.
ALBA LORENA RODRIGUEZ, RELEASED FROM PRISON (Interpreted): I felt like the world came crashing down on me because I knew I wasn't going to see my girls, and that I was being punished for something I hadn't done and that I didn't have a fair trial.
ROSALES (voice-over): It has been 25 years since El Salvador made getting abortions illegal under all circumstances. The country's President, Nayib Bukele, was recently elected to a second term, and says there will be no change to the abortion laws. The ban is popular among many Catholics and evangelical Salvadorans in the deeply conservative country. The law has come under scrutiny with cases presented in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
ANGELICA RIVAS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY (Interpreted): We continue insisting to the state that not only does it have to review the procedures at the judicial level, so they are free of gender stereotypes and free of discrimination against women, but it also has to review the legislation, and that is one of our demands.
ROSALES (voice-over): According to one Salvadoran abortion rights group, no women facing aggravated homicide charges tied to stillbirths or miscarriages remain in prison. But, they say seven women are still awaiting trial.
Isabel Rosales, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: All right. Well, still ahead for us, terrifying moments on another Boeing jet. Still ahead, what happened after a tire flew off a commercial flight as it was taking off. We'll be right back.
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[11:50:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. And today's one more thing is another terrifying moment involving a Boeing jet. On Thursday, United Airlines Flight lost a tire mid-air shortly after takeoff from San Francisco.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last departure lost the wheel on departure. So, we're going to have to shut the runway down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Video obtained by CNN shows the moment the tire fell off as the plane was gaining altitude, debris falling to the ground, hitting cars in the employee parking lot. Now, thankfully, no one was hurt, but obviously a lot of questions this morning.
Joining us now is CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. Pete, it's a crazy story. Any sense of what caused the wheel to just fall off?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes you see tires on airplanes burst. Sometimes they catch fire because of the friction of braking. But, rarely do they fall from the sky and cause damage on the ground below. This was the scene at San Francisco International Airport yesterday morning, 11:35 a.m. Pacific Time. This is a United 777 on its way to Osaka, Japan. About 250 people on board. Plane spotters doing a live stream on YouTube captured the wheel fall off the plane. It appears to be from the main landing gear, six wheels on each set, tire alone weighs about 265 pounds. It's not including the wheel hub at the center there.
So, it caused a fair amount of damage there that you saw just a second ago in the employee lot. The tire hit a Toyota Corolla, a Tesla model three. Something like this might not be immediately apparent to the crew, though, and air traffic control spotted it, and they had to tell other airplanes approaching runway to wait, to abort their landings. The FAA is investigating this right now. And the big question is, why did wheel come off? Not a Boeing issue, probably, because the airplane was about 22-years-old. So, the question is, was it related to maintenance, may be called a maintenance-induced failure?
This plane flew from Paris about 24 hours before this. And there is the United maintenance base there at SFO. Or was it simply something that broke? These wheels take a lot of punishment supporting a 300 ton airliner. It's not an easy job. It's why there are 14 of these tires on a 777. Also, while this unplanned landing at LAX was pretty uneventful. United is thinking its crew of the plane, its crew in San Francisco, and at LAX for dealing with this swiftly. United also says "We will work with customers as well as the owners of the damaged vehicles, an SFO, to ensure their needs are addressed." But, imagine getting that call, Rahel, that your car just got crushed by a big tire from the sky.
SOLOMON: No. It's not funny. I'm just imagining the insurance agent, like on the other end of the line.
MUNTEAN: Yeah.
SOLOMON: So, what happened exactly?
MUNTEAN: Yeah. Can you imagine being that insurance adjuster? They've never probably seen that before.
SOLOMON: Yeah, truly. Pete, really quickly, there is also another incident apparently this morning, a different United flight in Houston apparently rolling off the runway. What do we know about that?
MUNTEAN: So far, this seems like a flight that simply took the turn a little bit too fast on the end of runway 27 there at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. This plane was coming into land, coming in from Memphis. This is a Boeing 737 MAX 8, not all that old. The FAA record says it was delivered to United in 2023 in June. So, a pretty new airplane, probably not related to the fact that this is a Boeing 737 MAX 8. It was a MAX 9 involved in that door plug blowout back on January 5. It was a little misty there at the time. So, investigators, of course, were going to look at the weather. Was this plane hydroplaning?
It seemed to go off the end of a bit of a berm there. The taxiway and the runway are a bit elevated. And there is a bit of a slope down to the grass. And so, one of the wheels, the left main wheel set on the 737, was sort of stuck in the mud there with the nose out over the taxiway. They pulled up the stair car. They were able to evacuate everybody pretty quickly, and things were pretty smooth.
[11:55:00]
All in all, nobody hurt, which is the good news here, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Good news in both of these cases. Pete Muntean, thanks so much. Have a great weekend, Pete.
MUNTEAN: Thanks.
SOLOMON: All right. Let's take a quick look at how the markets are doing after that latest aviation scare. You can see United shares are off three quarters of one percent. And let's take a look at how the U.S. markets are doing more broadly. The Dow was up fractionally. Let's call it two tenths of one percent. The NASDAQ is off a third of a percent, and the S&P off, up fractionally about one tenth of a percent. And here is where things stand in major indexes in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. You can see the FTSE lower, the CAC 40 higher, and Asian markets also closing higher.
Now, before we go, a programming update. Starting Monday, CNN International will feature a new lineup in the Europe primetime hours. "Amanpour" and "Soares Tonight", well, they remain at their current times. But, a new debut. CNN NEWSROOM with Jim Sciutto at 8 p.m. in Central Europe, 3 p.m. Eastern, and that'll be followed by "Quest Means Business" at a new time at four o'clock Eastern, 9 p.m. in Europe.
All right. Well, we know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
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