Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CNN International: SpaceX Crew Completes Historic Spacewalk; Pressure Builds On Biden To Ease Ukraine Strike Restrictions; Trump And Harris Campaign In Swing States. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 12, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. Good to have you with us this hour. I'm Erica Hill in New York.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom, reaching new heights in space. A short time ago, the first ever commercial spacewalk playing out for us. So, just what could be learned from this out of the world -- out of this world event? Plus, pushback from the U.S. Attorney General, slamming the rise in attacks on the Justice Department. We'll bring you Merrick Garland's remarks live. At a surprising debut on the Formula One circuit, a life-sized replica of McLaren's P1 supercar made entirely of LEGO bricks hits the track.
We begin this hour with today's historic milestone in space. Just hours ago, take a look at the scene here, a four-person crew of civilian astronauts on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission taking part in the first ever commercial spacewalk. Jared Isaacman, the CEO of a company called Shift4, who is also helping to finance this mission, serving as mission commander, also with him, making history today, former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. Gillis and Isaacman took turns exiting the spacecraft. In total, they were in space for a little less than 30 minutes.
CNN Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher joining us now live from Washington with the latest. Boy, there was a lot of anticipation and a lot of payoff, I think, for everybody watching. This private, though, civilian spacewalk is so different from what we're used to seeing. Those being with NASA astronauts. So, walk us through why this one is so important.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, we've gotten so used to seeing NASA astronauts or Russian cosmonauts conduct spacewalks up at the International Space Station, the first one being conducted back in the 1960s. So, you're right. People see this and say, what's so new and special and different about this? The different thing about this is this is a spacecraft that was built, designed, operated by a private company, the spacesuit also built and manufactured by a private company, and these are private astronauts, civilians, well-trained civilians, albeit, but -- and they are going out into the vacuum of space. For the first time, nongovernment astronauts doing this.
And the reason why is because private companies can do this faster and more affordably than traditionally big governments can. And so, the whole goal of SpaceX is to make humanity multiplanetary. They want to colonize Mars someday. And in order to do that, you have to mass manufacture spacesuits. You can't have a colony on Mars without a bunch of spacesuits. So, that's what today was. It was really the first step in having your everyday human walk on the surface of Mars someday, and it was a resounding success, Erica. The spacewalk took about two hours to complete. They have now successfully closed the hatch and are going to enjoy another day or two in orbit before returning to Earth this weekend, Erica.
HILL: Wow. Really something. Kristin, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks.
FISHER: Thanks.
HILL: Also with me this hour is CNN Aerospace Analyst Miles O'Brien. Nice to see you, as always, my friend. So, we look at this -- Kristin was just talking about the spacesuits. What struck me is how different these spacesuits that we saw this morning look from what we're used to seeing, which feel big and cumbersome and much more difficult to move around in. Those suits are a real focus of this mission.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yeah. It's interesting, Erica. They get design points, I guess, and maybe they took a few cues from Hollywood, because it looks a little bit like Star Wars to me. What's interesting is that the NASA spacesuits go back to the 1980s and the early days of the space shuttle program, and they are a little long in tooth, to say the least, or about -- little more than a dozen of them. Each of them cost about $15 million. They are different than what we saw today, in the sense that they have a backpack which contains all of the life support system for the astronauts. In this case, there were umbilicals which attached the astronauts to the draft spacecraft. As you can see, they are coming out. They're still attached there.
So, it -- there is still more that needs to be added if you're going to be walking out either untethered or tethered, not in a way that requires the life support system.
[11:05:00]
The idea, though, is to make it a little less than $15 million per suit, which is part in line with SpaceX's mission of sending armadas of vehicle to ultimately Mars and lots of people.
HILL: This mission, of course, is not without risk. And as Kristin noted, there is a lot of training that went into this for these so- called civilian astronauts. What ultimately do you think we will learn from missions like this?
O'BRIEN: Well, I think a lot of the things are kind of a repeat of what we learned 60 years ago with NASA. But, what happened was NASA moved in another direction with the space shuttle. It was not necessarily pushing beyond low Earth orbits. This is which we first began exploring. Need further development with new technology, is kind of where we at. So, 60 years ago, Ed White became the first U.S. astronaut to do his space walk outside of the Gemini mission. He was the second human to do it. Alexei Leonov did it for the Soviet Union, nearly got killed doing so. But, obviously, technology has marched on, and it's time maybe to reimagine some of these challenges with new technology.
One of the things they'll be doing between now and landing, for example, is they'll be testing the Starlink system for communication, which is a space-based system, another Elon Musk company, and try to communicate back to Earth using that bandwidth, using lasers. So, it is kind a back to the future kind of moment, or future forward, whatever you want to say, but revisiting some ideas that were initially explored but not fully developed 60 years ago.
HILL: There is also this element of, and I'm sort of paraphrasing what we were hearing from my colleague Kristin Fisher, but if you're doing things privately, there is a lot less red tape, obviously, than if you're dealing with government funding, if you're dealing with government approval. How important is that moving forward, especially given what we saw at NASA over the last couple of decades?
O'BRIEN: Yeah. Well, it's kind of -- you got to give Elon Musk credit as a business person. His commander wrote about a nine-figure check in order to be the commander of this mission. I'd say that's kind of an interesting business model that he has got there.
HILL: Yes.
O'BRIEN: He found somebody who is very enthusiastic about space and he basically funds a lot of research and development for SpaceX. And so, I guess it's a win-win, right? He is happy to be in history, and Elon Musk gets to push things forward. So, it's a whole new way of doing business in space, quite literally. NASA, of course, seeded this a couple of decades ago with SpaceX, and at first, sending cargo to the International Space Station, now people, and you can't argue with the success it's been. This is the 14th Crew Dragon mission, and poor old Boeing still can't figure out how to fly Starliner to the space station. So, this idea appears to be a good formula.
HILL: Yeah. Miles, good to see you. Appreciate it, as always. Thanks.
U.S. lawmakers are renewing pressure on President Joe Biden to lift weapons restrictions currently in place for Ukraine. Kyiv, of course, has been asking the White House to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia. In other bipartisan efforts to lift those restrictions, one U.S. Senator, Democrat Ben Cardin, saying Washington needs to act swiftly.
Pressed this morning in Warsaw, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would only say that American policy will adapt as the war changes, and that he will be briefing President Biden on the discussions that he had earlier in Ukraine.
CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt joining me now from Washington, D.C. So, look, the pressure is certainly building on the Biden administration. How much of an impact is it having?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does appear to be having an impact. It does look like, Erica, the U.S. is getting closer to a decision and a decision that could fall in Ukraine's favor. Certainly, that pressure is growing on President Joe Biden, not just from Ukrainian officials, and we have seen a number of them coming here recently to make their case, but as you note, from members of his own party. And when you look at what Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been saying in the past few days, those tea leaves do seem to indicate that the U.S. will be making this decision soon to allow Ukraine to use these U.S.-made weapons deeper inside of Russia, but that is certainly not a foregone conclusion. There are still significant concerns.
But, we did hear Secretary Blinken saying today that a hallmark of U.S. policy is to essentially give Ukraine what it needs to fight the Russians. And we did hear that line again from him, talking about how the battlefield has evolved, so too has American policy, and I think that's really important, because we have seen over the past two and a half years the U.S. increase the kind of heavy weaponry that it has been giving to Ukraine to really take that fight to the Russians.
[11:10:00]
Here is a little bit of what Secretary Blinken said on his visit to the Ukrainian capital just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Among other things, we discussed long-range fires, but a number of other things as well. And as I said at the outset, I'm going to take that discussion back to Washington to brief the President on what I heard. I know that David is doing the same, and both of our bosses, no doubt, will discuss this when they meet later this week, actually, on Friday in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: So, Erica, the David he was referencing there was David Lammy, the new Foreign Secretary of Great Britain. So, this is a question not just for the Americans, but for the Brits as well. There is a British missile called the Storm Shadow that the Ukrainians would also like to use to fire deeper inside of Russia. Remember, the Ukrainians have taken over this vast swath of territory in the Kursk region of Russia. So, they really have changed the battlefield there.
But, Erica, in terms of the reservations here in Washington, D.C., the Biden administration continues to be afraid of the potential for escalation by the Russians. The Russians seeing these U.S. missiles being launched deeper inside of Russia and really escalating the fight. There is also the question of supply. There is not a large number of these missiles. They're called ATACMS. They fly around 200 miles or 300 kilometers. There just aren't that many of them. And so, the U.S. believes that Ukraine could be using the supply that they have more effectively in eastern Ukraine, in places like Crimea. No doubt, Erica, if the U.S. were to make this decision to allow
Ukraine to use those missiles inside Russia to target hundreds of miles deeper inside of Russia, it would be a significant political victory for the Ukrainians. There are questions about how effective it would be militarily, but it would send a very strong message to the Russians and to the world about the level of U.S. support, continued U.S. support for Ukraine. Erica.
HILL: Yeah, certainly, and we know that that part of the equation is also important in terms of that messaging. Alex, appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, the war in Ukraine has, of course, posed one of the biggest challenges to NATO, to the Western Alliance in decades, and at the center of it all, NATO's outgoing chief, Jens Stoltenberg. In his first major exit interview, the Secretary General spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, and they discussed Russia's war on Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: I think we need to be even stronger, partly in what we do as a provide more military support on top of the unpleasant support which is -- which has already been delivered, but as important is actually that we communicate long-term commitment, because --
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So, loud and clear.
STOLTENBERG: Loud and clear for long term, because now, President Putin, I'm afraid that he believes that he can wait us out, and as long as he believes that he can wait us out, the war will continue. So, we -- the paradox is that the stronger our military support is and for the longer term we are willing to commit, the sooner the war can end. I don't think we can change the mind of President Putin, but we can change his calculus. So, we need to make sure that he understands that he cannot win on the battlefield. He will pay a high price. It will be a lot of suffering if he continues to fight this war, and then he may be willing to sit down and accept a solution where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent nation in Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: And you can tune in later today to see that full interview, as Christiane sits down with the outgoing Secretary General. It airs at 01:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 06:00 p.m. London, right here.
Still to come this hour, as the race for the White House heats up, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are back out there on the trail, and they've got some new ads as well, the competing messages they are sending to voters. Plus, the UN calls it the deadliest attack on its workers in Gaza since the start of the war. The details just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Welcome back. As we shift into the critical final weeks of the 2024 race for the White House, the focus is squarely on a few key swing states. Among those being highlighted today, well, North Carolina, where Kamala Harris is campaigning, her running mate Tim Walz in Michigan. Donald Trump, he is in Arizona.
Joining me now for a closer look at both campaigns, Priscilla Alvarez joining me from North Carolina who is covering the Harris campaign, and Alayna Treene in Washington with more on the Trump campaign.
Priscilla, I'm going to start with you. So, in terms of what we are seeing today, there is also a very clear message coming out of this debate that we're going to be hearing from the Vice President.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's exactly right. And one of them is going to be focusing on reproductive rights. Of course, the campaign felt that that was a strong moment in the course of the presidential debate this week, but also in a state like North Carolina, one where they can really make inroads with voters. Of course, this is a state where they think that, given the state of play in the gubernatorial race, they can try to appeal to voters that, as one campaign official put it, aren't diehard Democrats, but are also uninterested in Donald Trump and the GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who has been tied to Trump as well.
Now, of course, the message too from the Vice President over the last several days has been that they are the underdogs in the race. So, while they're coming out of the debate feeling quite confident and feeling like momentum is still in their favor, they also feel like they cannot guarantee a win just based on that, that this is going to be a close race, and that is how they are going to proceed over the next few weeks. And so, the message we'll be hearing from the Vice President today, again, especially in a state like North Carolina, where President Joe Biden narrowly lost in 2020, is going to be that this is -- that they are the underdogs, and there is still a lot of work to do.
Now, after this, they'll go back to Pennsylvania, where the Vice President will also have a rally there, again, indicating just how important a state like that will be for her to notch a victory in November. But, clearly, this is a campaign that is pleased with the performance on Tuesday night, but they're also not taking anything for granted. All aides I've spoken to tell me that they do anticipate this is going to come down to the wire. So, trying to appeal to those undecided voters and continue to put her out there and introduce herself in what has been a very condensed campaign for her is front and center, which leads to the stops today here in North Carolina too, and then tomorrow in Pennsylvania. Erica.
HILL: All right. Priscilla, appreciate it.
Alayna, as for Team Trump, we heard a lot from allies and surrogates, little bit of cleanup mode activated following the debate performance. What does that translate into now on the trail, and specifically what we'll see from the former President himself?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, today, Erica, Donald Trump is also on the campaign trail, having a blitz of his own. He is going to start in Tucson, Arizona, for a campaign event that I'm, or the campaign is billing, as being focused on Latino voters. Tomorrow, he is going to do an event in Las Vegas, one that will be focused on the economy. I think it's notable, because immigration, which is what that focus on Latino voters, I'm told, is meant to mean, and then the economy, those are, of course, two of the most important issues to the Trump campaign, and ones from my conversations with Trump advisors, some of Donald Trump's allies, those in his orbit, that they argue Donald Trump did not do well enough to address on that debate stage on Tuesday, and really they are in cleanup mode.
You're hearing Donald Trump himself say publicly that he thinks he won the debate, that it was the best debate performance he has ever given. But, behind the scenes, it's a very different picture in my conversations with those who are surrounding him and people who are in his corner. They argue that he missed the mark. There were many opportunities that he had to really drive home points where they thought Harris was weaker, again, particularly on the economy and immigration, where they believe that she successfully baited him into getting sidetracked and talking about other things.
[11:20:00]
And there has been a lot of frustration over that, particularly given they did do a good amount of prep for this debate. We have reported that they did more preparation for this debate against Harris than they did for the one against Joe Biden in June. So, keep that in mind. Now, we did actually hear one of Donald Trump's surrogates publicly say this. RFK Jr., who ever since he ended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, has been a top surrogate for the campaign. I want you to take a listen to what he said on Fox News yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT: Vice President Harris clearly won the debate in terms of her delivery, her polish, her organization and her preparation. I think on substance, President Trump wins in terms of his governance and -- but he didn't tell that story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: So, RFK Jr. then went on, Erica, to say that he thought Donald Trump got distracted, and said it was unfortunate. But, what he said is very much in line with what I am hearing from people privately. They think that Harris, at a minimum, won on style points, on her delivery, that perhaps Donald Trump had the better message, but it wasn't articulated on Tuesday night. So, I think you're going to see a lot of that trying to be reconciled when Donald Trump hits these different battlegrounds and try to talk about. The issue is that they wish he talked about on Tuesday. Erica.
HILL: We'll be watching for that as well. Alayna, appreciate it, and Priscilla, thank you both.
Joining me now to discuss, Maria Cardona, Democratic Strategist and a CNN Political Commentator, and Pete Seat, former White House Spokesman for President George W. Bush. Nice to see both of you this morning, as we continue and we see the candidates back out there on the trail in these states, which, if people have not figured this out already, we will be talking a lot about over the next few weeks, as we know.
Pete, picking up where Alayna just left off, in terms of this cleanup effort and trying to get the former President to focus more on the substance, how effective do you think that is going to be in these final weeks?
PETE SEAT, FMR. WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, Donald Trump is on the talking points, his talking points, not necessarily the talking points that his advisors want him to use. And for anyone who has paid attention to him for these nearly 10 years, that debate performance was to be expected. That is Donald Trump. He actually is disciplined, disciplined in talking about Hannibal Lecter and all the other things that he does at these rallies. Where he is not disciplined is in talking about the issues that matter to the American people.
And look, I don't truly believe that there are swing voters. Sure, there is anecdote out there, but I think swing voters, as they used to be, are as prehistoric as the dinosaurs right now. But, for those who do exist, they're not trying to decide on what Donald Trump says and his rhetoric. He has attacked everything short of apple pie and the flag at this point. What they're trying to decide on is the issues, and if he focuses on the issues, he'll get them on his side.
HILL: There is the issue, issue, and then on the Democratic side, right, we, as we just heard from Priscilla, part of the effort of the Harris campaign is still putting her out there so people can figure out who she is.
But, Maria, what's interesting to me too is when Priscilla talked about the focus on those who are, frankly, uninterested in Trump, was the way she was saying was they're hearing from the campaign, the reality is one of the groups that the campaign really needs to focus on is men. How much are you seeing in terms of an outreach and an effort from the Harris-Walz campaign to try to bring some of those men in?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think they are doing a tremendous effort and smartly so. They're not taking anything for granted, Erica, which I think is really smart, given what we all know that this is going to be a campaign and an election that's going to be won on the margins. And so, I think she has a tremendous opportunity to reach out to male voters, especially in light of the fact that not 100 percent of Americans know who she is yet. I think she did a tremendous job for herself in getting the American public and electorate to get to know her better on that debate stage, where she had a dominant performance, and she did talk about what she wanted to do for the next four years. And the contrast between her leadership style and her focus on
fighting for the American people, expanding the middle class, waking up every day, making sure that she was focused on the issues that they cared about most, in contrast to Donald Trump, who was just a complete and total meltdown and a complete discombobulation of incoherencies, I think was really a great image in terms of what this election is really about, and that stark contrast.
[11:25:00]
So, she needs to continue to do that. She is going to continue to put more meat on the bones in terms of her policies, because I actually believe that if it is on policies, absolutely Kamala Harris has the best policies to help the vast majority of voters versus Donald Trump, who is only in it for himself and to help his billionaire friends and corporations with his massive tax cuts that will hurt working class voters and middle class voters, and that's a contrast, I think, that will work in her favor.
HILL: I was struck this morning by an opinion piece in POLITICO magazine from former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, in which he announced he would be voting for Kamala Harris, and part of what he wrote is, quote, "Power is intoxicating and based on Trump's rhetoric and conduct it appears unlikely he would respect the power of the presidency in all instances; rather, he would abuse it for his personal and political gain", going on to say he finds Trump to be someone who fails to act time and again in accordance with the rule of law, that no amount of rationalization in support of Trump because of his policies can overcome the disqualification of this man based on his lack of integrity.
Pete, I mean, he acknowledges this might be tough for some people who aren't as familiar with Kamala Harris, but says overall, he finds that she has acted within the law. Who do you think, especially based on your belief that the swing voters went out the door of the dinosaurs, who do you believe an opinion piece like this actually speaks to? Who is the right audience for that?
SEAT: Well, not a lot of folks remember Alberto Gonzalez. I mean, I served alongside him in the Bush White House, and that was quite some time ago. There are some of my former colleagues who are coming out in support of Kamala Harris, and they have their reasons for doing so. But, I think people who are voting for Donald Trump are voting with their pocketbook. They're voting on the fact that they were better off financially four years ago than they are today. They're seeing rising prices in their day-to-day life. They're worried about immigration. They're seeing more and more stories, where I'm from, originally in Northwest Indiana, a 14-year-old girl was stabbed by an immigrant who got into this country illegally not that long ago.
These stories are happening in communities across the country, and that is driving fear, and that's driving the vote towards Donald Trump. So, Alberto Gonzalez, absolutely respect him in his service to this country, but I don't think that really moves the needle on anyone reading the piece. HILL: OK. There are also questions that, when it comes to
endorsements, whether celebrity endorsements move the needle. There has been some reporting from my colleague Elizabeth Wagmeister that, in fact, they can. Taylor Swift doubling down last night at the VMAs. I just want to play a little part of her acceptance speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: This is a fan voted award and you voted for this. I appreciate it so much. And if you are over 18, please register to vote for something else that's very important for now, the 2024 presidential election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So, I will say, Maria, one thing that I have found really interesting, and we saw from her, right, in 2020, is the push to simply register to vote. Do your own research.
CARDONA: Yeah.
HILL: Stay in your own lane. You do you --
CARDONA: Yeah.
HILL: -- but use your voice and vote, which is an important --
CARDONA: Yeah.
HILL: -- message, no matter which candidate you're supporting. And yet, there is a lot of backlash. People losing their minds over the fact that she is in fact coming out in support of a candidate. Does that show you that she does in fact have a lot of power?
CARDONA: She has tremendous power. And I know that in the past, people were saying, oh, well, celebrities don't matter. And in fact, probably most celebrities don't move the needle. This woman moves the needle. And in fact, I would say, though, Pete is right that Alberto Gonzalez probably is not going to move many voters, but he might move 10 voters. Taylor Swift can move 100 million. But, guess what? Kamala Harris' campaign will take those 10 as well as those 100 million because that's how close this election is going to be.
And voter registration is something that is so critical, Erica. And one of the things that I am struck by is that if you look at the voter files of the states that have updated them since Kamala Harris became the nominee for the Democratic Party, you have 150 percent more registration among young Latinas than at this point in 2020. You have 175 percent more registration among young black women than you did at this point in 2020, and the vast majority of those registrations are for the Democratic Party.
[11:30:00]
So, this is where this is going to matter. The sprint between now and Election Day is what matters. This is not going to be about persuasion, per se, on the issues or even on the candidate. It's going to be on persuasion in terms of the importance of everyone to get out and vote. And I think that that's -- that contrast in terms of that importance to have more people come out and vote is something that can work in the Vice President's favor as well.
HILL: One other thing that can work in the favor, I know we're out of time, but in the favor of this country is if we could throw out the picture of Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes, proof that people may favor different candidates, but they can still like and love one another. And isn't that a lovely message that I will end up?
CARDONA: Absolutely.
HILL: Thank you both. Good to see both. We appreciate your insights.
CARDONA: Thanks, Erica.
SEAT: Thank you.
HILL: Still ahead this hour, we are coping a very -- keeping a very close eye on the Justice Department this morning. At any moment, the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, set to deliver remarks, where he will publicly denounce the past several years of threats against his staff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here in the CNN Newsroom. I am Erica Hill in New York.
Any moment now, we will hear from the U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who is expected to deliver a pretty fiery speech. According to excerpts from his prepared remarks, Garland is set to slam efforts to turn the Justice Department into a quote, "political weapon", and is also expected to condemn what he calls an escalation of attacks against the DoJ. Now, this moment, of course, comes as former President Donald Trump is accusing the DoJ of being weaponized against him personally at his criminal prosecutions, even when those prosecutions do not in fact involve the federal government.
Joining us now is CNN's Zachary Cohen, who is tracking all of this for us in Washington. Strong words are expected from the Attorney General, and we don't hear a lot of that from him.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: This is very unlike Merrick Garland, the Attorney General, and we expect him to deliver a very clear message to the Justice Department workforce in just a matter of minutes, and that message is, I have your back. And this speech is also intended to send a message to Donald Trump. He does -- the excerpts that we obtain do not name Donald Trump or his allies, but it's very clear, based on the wording of this message, that he is putting Donald Trump on notice that he is not going to tolerate the attacks and sustained attacks on the Justice Department and on election officials that the former President has been waging over the last several years. And look, as you mentioned, this comes as Donald Trump has continued
to attack the Justice Department in particular, claiming that they've been weaponized by the Harris and Biden administration to prosecute him baselessly, even in cases where the federal government is not even involved in the case itself. Look, he did so as recently as from the debate stage this week, claiming something similar about Vice President Kamala Harris.
[11:35:00]
So, we're seeing Merrick Garland taking the stage today in front of those Justice Department officials and offering a message of reassurance, but also one of strength, and saying we are going to maintain the values, the core values of the Justice Department. I want to read a little excerpt that we obtained ahead of time. It says "It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this Department simply for doing their jobs. And it is outrageous that you have to face these unfounded attacks because you're doing what is right and upholding the rule of law."
So, we do, again, expect Merrick Garland to reaffirm that mission of the Justice Department, even as they face this wave of attacks from the current Republican nominee for President.
HILL: Talk to me about the timing here, because we -- as we -- we're coming up the debate. We're moving to the final weeks of the election. There is a timing element to this.
COHEN: Absolutely. And as you mentioned, there are still several ongoing criminal cases against the former President, and the upcoming election is anticipated to be one as highly contested by the former President, as we saw in 2020, and the Justice Department was really in clear focus for Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election. He has since sustained those attacks on Merrick Garland and blamed him personally for not going along with his efforts to overturn his last election loss. We expect a lot of litigation around the 2024 election. And once again, Merrick Garland has sort of been cast as a villain by Donald Trump. And so, this timing is sort of a message of -- a pump-up message for the Justice Department staff, as we enter this critical time period leading up to Election Day.
HILL: And as we're weighing some of those -- you mentioned some of those cases, what's also expected, to your point, very wisely, coming out of the election, which has already been set up over the last several years, I would say, actually. Let's listen in. We see the Attorney General there making his way to the podium.
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Hello everyone. And thank you, Dawn, for that overly generous introduction.
U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison served for nearly 20 years as a career Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan. Today, she leads that office. I am grateful to her for all she does. And I am grateful to all the U.S. attorneys who are with us today for your leadership, and for generously agreeing to invite the entire DoJ workforce to this closing session of the 85th annual U.S. Attorneys' conference.
Since 1939, U.S. attorneys have traveled to Washington from across the country to meet with one another to discuss the most pressing issues facing their communities. Each year, the attorney general addresses the conference. In recent years, attorneys general have delivered their remarks only to the U.S. attorneys, in a small windowless room upstairs in this building. This year, I wanted to talk to everyone from here in this Great Hall.
First, and foremost, to thank you, all of you, the over 115,000 public servants who make up this Department. Every day, in communities across the country and around the world, you do difficult and often dangerous work on behalf of the American people. When a heinous crime has been committed, you are the ones to whom victims and survivors turn to seek justice on their behalf. You are the ones to whom the American people turn for help when a community is targeted by hate crimes; when a neighborhood is poisoned by toxic chemicals; when workers and consumers are harmed by corporate monopolies; when voters are unlawfully blocked from participating in our democratic process; when our country faces threats ranging from violent crime and drug trafficking to terrorist organizations and authoritarian regimes.
You are the agents, prosecutors, correctional officers, victims service specialists, grantmaking experts, administrative professionals, and so many others who step up when you are needed the most. And in the wake of horrific tragedies, you are the ones to whom communities look for protection and for solace.
Yesterday, we marked the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on our country.
[11:40:00]
As we took time to remember all those who were taken from us on that day and in the years since, we honored the DoJ employees who risked their lives in responding to the attacks. They are heroes. Their service and sacrifice remind us that when the American people look to see what the Justice Department stands for, they are looking to the example of the people who work here, all of you. I know that is an enormous responsibility. So, I want you to know that you have not only my gratitude, but the gratitude of every person whose life you have saved or changed through your work.
You do not hear it often enough. Thank you. Thank you for being selfless public servants and patriots. Thank you for the countless hours, the nights and weekends, holidays and time away from family that you have spent because you believe in the mission of this department and because you want to serve the American people. And thank you not only for the work you do, but for the way you do your work, with skill and integrity. That is what I want to talk about today, this workforce's ironclad commitment to the principles of fairness and impartiality that have long guided it, and why that commitment is as important as it ever has been.
84 years ago, then-Attorney General Robert Jackson delivered a now- famous address to the U.S. attorneys right here in this Great Hall. In that speech, he sought to remind U.S. attorneys of the enormous power they hold as federal prosecutors, and the responsibilities that come with that power. He defined what he deemed, quote, "a good prosecutor" as a person, quote, "who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility." close quote. That speech, which he titled, "The Federal Prosecutor," outlined values that have echoed in the halls of this department, and outside of it, for generations.
He gave voice to the principles that have guided not only prosecutors but all of our employees, who understand deeply what is at stake when it comes to the fair and impartial application of our laws. His words have inspired generations of public servants, including me.
I first came to the Justice Department more than 40 years ago, at a time when both the leadership and the career employees of this department were working to restore public confidence in the fair and impartial application of our laws in the wake of Watergate. To do so, Department leaders like Attorneys General Ed Levi, Griffin Bell, and Benjamin Civiletti developed and formalized a set of norms to guide the Justice Department's adherence to the rule of law.
Relying on values foundational to our democracy, in particular, the promise of equal justice under law, they put forward a set of policies to guide the Justice Department's work. Those included policies designed to protect the independence of the Justice Department from partisan influence, guidelines for FBI investigations, regulations to protect the freedom of the press, and policies to ensure respect for the department's career lawyers, agents, and staff. And they included a project to set out, for the first time in a single authoritative source, a set of principles to guide the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
In my first job at the Justice Department, working for Attorney General Civiletti, I assisted on that project. The result was a slim paperbound volume entitled "Principles of Federal Prosecution", published in 1980. As you well know, the current version of the principles is now a 23,000-word electronic document enshrined in the Justice Manual.
[11:45:00]
The purpose of those principles, as we wrote in the preface was, quote, "to promote the reasoned exercise of prosecutorial authority and contribute to the fair, evenhanded administration of the federal criminal laws." close quote. Much of that document is devoted to giving guidance to prosecutors about which factors they should consider in a multitude of situations, from initiating prosecution, to selecting charges, disclosing exculpatory information, entering into plea agreements, and making sentencing recommendations. But, the core of the principles is its directive about which factors an attorney for the government may not consider.
In the words of that document, quote, "The attorney for the government may not be influenced by, a person's race, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, or political association, activities, or beliefs, by the attorney's own personal feelings concerning the person, the person's associates, or the victim, or by the possible effect of the decision on the attorney's own professional or personal circumstances." This provision of the Principles ends with an admonition, quote, "Federal prosecutors and agents may never make a decision regarding an investigation or prosecution for the purpose of affecting any election, or the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party." In short, we must treat like cases alike.
There is not one rule for friends and another for foes, one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless, one rule for the rich and another for the poor, one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, or different rules depending on one's race or ethnicity. To the contrary, we have only one rule, we follow the facts and apply the law in a way that respects the Constitution and protects civil liberties.
Over the past three and a half years, I have spoken to you often about the importance of these norms. I know that, to many outside of this department, they may seem abstract or even inconsequential. They are anything but. And they must not be taken for granted. For us, adhering to these policies, principles, and norms in everything we do is how we fulfill the promise that is foundational to our democracy, that all people will be protected equally under the law, and that all people will be held accountable equally under the law.
Our norms are a promise that we will fiercely protect the independence of this department from political interference in our criminal investigations. Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon. And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.
Over the course of four decades, during which I served in different jobs, both career and non-career, in this department, and in a completely different job in the Judicial Branch, I watched as those norms became woven into the fabric of the Justice Department and were sustained by its dedicated career employees. When I came back to DoJ in 2021, after a particularly difficult period for the department, I said that my mission as attorney general would be to reaffirm and strengthen those norms as the principles upon which the Department of Justice operates.
[11:50:00]
So, we took steps to better protect the department's criminal and civil law enforcement decisions and its legal judgments from partisan or other inappropriate influences. To name only a few of those steps, we reinstituted policies regulating contacts between department personnel and both the White House and Congress. We strengthened and clarified the guidelines for sensitive FBI investigations. We implemented remedial measures to ensure robust compliance with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. We updated protections for the press in law enforcement investigations in order to safeguard the essential role that a free press plays in our democracy. We published new policies to guide prosecutorial discretion with
respect to charging, pleas, and sentencing. We supplemented our state secrets privilege policy to ensure that the United States invokes that privilege only when there is a genuine risk to national security. And department leadership restated and demonstrated through our actions, again and again, our respect for the work and integrity of the career employees who constitute the institutional backbone and historical memory of this department.
Over the past three and a half years, I have seen how the public servants of this department have continued to uphold and strengthen those norms. I have seen how you have risen to meet a range of extraordinary challenges. And I have seen the incalculable toll this work has taken on so many of you, especially those of you who risk your lives every day.
I am thinking of heroes like Tommy Weeks, the Deputy U.S. Marshal who was killed while apprehending a fugitive earlier this spring. And I am thinking of heroes like Tommy's family, who have made the kind of sacrifice no one should ever have to make. In addition to seeing how you have operated in the face of dangers like violent crime and terrorism, I have also seen how you have bravely carried on in the face of an unprecedented spike in threats targeting a range of public officials across the country.
Over the past three and a half years, there has been an escalation of attacks on the Justice Department's career lawyers, agents, and other personnel that go far beyond public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate and necessary oversight of our work. These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence. Through your continued work, you have made clear that the Justice Department will not be intimidated by these attacks.
But, it is dangerous and outrageous that you have to endure them. It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this department solely for doing their jobs. And it is outrageous that you have to face these unfounded attacks because you are doing what is right and upholding the rule of law. You deserve better. You deserve gratitude for the noble and difficult work you do. You deserve recognition for the integrity and skill with which you do that work. You deserve to be honored. The work you do every day makes a difference. And the way you do that work makes clear that the public servants of the Department of Justice do not bend to politics, and that they will not break under pressure.
The choices you make in every investigation, in every filing, in every trial, in everything you do to ensure the fair and impartial application of the law make this department and our democracy worthy of the public we serve.
[11:55:00]
And for that, you deserve respect. As I hope you already know, you have mine, wholeheartedly. You also have my promise that nothing will ever stop me from defending this department, and the extraordinary people who work here.
I came back to DoJ as Attorney General believing that our norms are some of the most powerful tools we have to ensure our adherence to the rule of law. Having now served as Attorney General for the past three and a half years, I continue to believe deeply that our norms matter, now more than ever, to our department and to our democracy. I also believe, now more than ever, that the most important resources the Justice Department has are the dedication and integrity of the people who work here.
As we wrote in the preface --
HILL: Attorney General Merrick Garland there. If you've been with us watching his remarks, emotional in this speech, as he thanked over and over again the staff and employees at the Justice Department, stressed the importance of the core principles, the norms, as he is saying, of the department, and the rule to follow the facts, to apply the law equally, fairly, impartially in a way that protects the Constitution and civil liberties, and also calling out the escalation of attacks, as he said, against career lawyers, agents, other personnel that go far beyond any public criticism, calling that out, talking about how those who work at the Justice Department deserve respect, talking about how dangerous and outrageous many of these attacks are, and stressing again that this department is not and will not be influenced by politics.
Our coverage continues after this short break. Stay with us. CNN's One World is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
