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Parade Prep Continues in New York City; New Satellite Searching For Methane Leaks; Republicans Set to Have Thin Majority in House. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 27, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:32:19]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: All right, 22 days since the election, a few key congressional races are still being counted, in case you weren't aware, but an updated tally from California this morning just made things a lot more interesting in a presumed Republican-led Congress.

I say presumed because, as of now, it looks like the GOP will have a very slim 217-to-215 margin until at least early April. That's because three Republicans are leaving, Matt Gaetz of -- Matt Gaetz retired after withdrawing from consideration for attorney general. Plus, Elise Stefanik and Michael Waltz are expected to leave Congress for posts in the Trump administration.

I'm joined now by May Mailman. She is a former White House associate counsel under President Trump. And also with us, CNN political commentator Karen Finney.

What do you think, Karen, about these numbers? It is fascinating where this might break down, with a one-seat majority potentially for the Republicans in the House?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it's going to be a nightmare for Speaker Johnson, should he remain the speaker, no question, particularly given that these individuals have to face voters in two years.

So they don't have -- if you're not in a safe district, you don't have as much leeway with the Trump agenda as some of the others. So it will be very interesting. We will see what happens with these three seats. They seem like they're pretty safe Republican seats.

ACOSTA: Yes.

FINNEY: But I'm hoping the Democrats can stir up a little chaos during the time with that tight margin. Why not?

ACOSTA: Interesting.

May, what do you think about this slim majority in the House? It could come down to one vote. I guess Mike Johnson and some of those guys have been in this position before when they went through with the whole deal with Kevin McCarthy. MAY MAILMAN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL: Yes, I mean,

the House is going to do what the House does. It's going to be messy.

And putting my partisan hat on, of course, I'd love to have a huge, a supermajority. But I think just putting my American hat on, I'm less concerned about that and more concerned that California is still counting votes. This is something that California really has to figure out.

The election was almost a month ago. There are still more than 100,000 votes outstanding. Some of the tight races, the Republican was up by more than 1,000 votes and now they're losing. They do not even allow voter I.D. They have got do signature matching.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Doesn't that -- wait a minute. Hold on a second. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

May, all right, hold on a second. You're not suggesting that there's something untoward going on? Please do not tell me that.

(LAUGHTER)

MAILMAN: what I -- no, so I think these are very, very different things, right?

So viewing this and saying therefore the election is illegitimate is not what I'm saying. Viewing this and saying, how do you expect people to love this is completely another.

(CROSSTALK)

[11:35:00]

ACOSTA: Yes. No, OK.

Go ahead, Karen.

FINNEY: No, but I think, also, is it Massachusetts? There's a couple other places where they're still counting votes.

ACOSTA: Iowa has a very tight congressional race.

FINNEY: And we -- there shouldn't be anything wrong with taking the time to count the votes and to make sure you get it right, period, full stop.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes, and I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, but I do have a problem with people who are saying that there might be something untoward going on in certain congressional races when Donald Trump won the presidency.

But, to me, it's sort of like at some point you just have to have faith in elections in this country, or what the hell are we doing here? But, Karen, I do want to ask you about Kamala Harris.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Oh, go ahead, May, if you want to if you want to weigh in and go down this rabbit hole. I just -- I just hope...

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Yes, go ahead.

MAILMAN: Yes, I -- my point is not that people should distrust their elections. I work for an organization called Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MAILMAN: I just think that California should take a message here and say, if Florida can do it, if other -- if Texas can do it, they can do it.

ACOSTA: Right, but as Karen said, there are other elections that haven't been called.

Right, but, as Karen said, there are other elections that haven't been called. So you're insinuating that California is up to no good. Is that what you're doing, May? You might as well just say it. Just say it.

MAILMAN: I'm insinuating that California should not have 100,000 votes outstanding three weeks after the election.

I think that we can all agree that they should do better. If we can't agree on that, then...

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Oh, if you're just saying, hurry up, California, that's fine. Yes, OK, that's fine. I want to move on because I don't -- I really don't want to do that.

Karen, both Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign staffers are now opening up about the election loss. Let's listen to Democratic strategist James Carville, who has had some thoughts on all of this. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The vice president was thinking about going on Joe Rogan's show. And a lot of the younger progressive staffers pitched a hissy fit.

If I were running a 2028 campaign, and I had some little snot-nosed 23-year-old saying I'm going to resign if you don't do this, not only would I fire that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on the spot, I would find out who hired them and fire that person on the spot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Karen, your thoughts on what James Carville had to say there?

And what about this whole notion that Democrats could use their own version of Joe Rogan and that sort of thing?

FINNEY: Well, let me say two things. First of all, I don't give a damn what James Carville says.

ACOSTA: Uh-oh.

FINNEY: The last campaign he did was, what, 1992? I was on that campaign. And campaigns have changed a lot. And yes, James, I'm saying that because I'm sick of it.

She didn't lose because she didn't go on "Joe Rogan." I mean, that's -- I think she should have done it and they should have made it work in the schedule. But I think it's a little ridiculous to try to say, well, if she would have said this word or that word or this interview.

It's more complicated than that. And here's what I would say. I don't think it's...

ACOSTA: Yes, David Plouffe has said the headwinds -- economic headwinds were pretty strong. That was tough.

FINNEY: Yes. Yes, I think there were a combination of things.

And, look, I will be honest, as much as I love Joe Biden, I think Kamala actually saved us from having a blowout, frankly. I mean, I think she really -- the energy and the enthusiasm that she brought to the ticket

But, again, I think it's more complicated. And it's not just about having our own Joe Rogan. It's about understanding -- because what Trump did was he understood, like, then the manosphere that we have talked about.

He understood, they understood who his voters were, where they were, what message they needed to hear, and what channel they needed to hear it in. And we just didn't do as good a job on that. I mean, to some degree, think about in the South, where people were voting for candidates who were against segregation and they lost for a long time.

Didn't mean that they were voting the wrong way, right? It just means we lost. Sometimes, you win. Sometimes, you lose. The important thing is, what can you learn and then move on?

ACOSTA: All right, very important. All right, and we will see if James has a response to all this. We will have James on.

Karen and May, thanks very much. We appreciate it.

A powerful new satellite is orbiting the Earth in search of methane gas leaks. CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us next to describe this potential threat to our planet, a very important subject. Stay tuned for that.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:33]

ACOSTA: A powerful new satellite is circling the Earth 15 times a day searching for methane leaks and observing oil and gas companies' impact on climate change.

CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir joins us now with more.

This methane issue, it kind of flies under the radar. We don't pay enough attention to it. Big problem, isn't that right, Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: You can't see it. You can't smell it, Jim, but it is a huge, huge problem.

And now imagine a surveillance camera for super polluters. That's what the Environmental Defense Fund did when they launched this methane sat with the help of New Zealand Space Agency. First, you understand what is marketed to us as natural gas is 90 percent methane. And you can see it there with special cameras how it just flows out of these oil fields around the country.

A few years ago, the EDF estimated you could heat and power seven million homes just from what's leaking in Texas. Turns out that was a vast undercount. Now that they have launched this thing and have spent a little time in the air, we're getting the first results back.

And let's just look at a couple of the intense oil and gas basins around the country. Appalachia, which we were talking about during the election, that's Western Pennsylvania, 226 tons per hour is leaking out of those natural gas and fracking sites there.

In the Uinta Basin in Utah -- this is just east of Salt Lake City -- these are old oil fields. They don't produce a lot. They're still producing 45 times more than the limit set by industry and the EPA. And then the big daddy of them all, the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, another 290 tons an hour.

[11:45:08]

That is nine to 14 times higher than the rates that the industry agreed on. Now, Jim, this was marketed as a clean bridge fuel to get off a coal, that natural gas is going to be so much cleaner than coal. But that's only true if it never leaks.

ACOSTA: Ah.

WEIR: And now we're seeing it leaks in ways that nobody ever imagined. It's the easiest thing to fix. It's low-hanging fruit for industry to fix those leaks, capture that methane and use it as a product.

But the stuff is so cheap and plentiful they just let it leak or let -- or flare it before. It will be interesting to see what the Trump administration's stance is on this. A lot of fracking companies supported him, don't want any methane regulation. But, imagine, that is 80 times more powerful, that gas, than carbon dioxide in the near term.

ACOSTA: Right.

WEIR: So it is vital to fix those leaks if we want to save a livable planet.

ACOSTA: All right, Bill Weir, thanks, as always, for your coverage on that issue. Thank you so much.

In the meantime, Macy's Thanksgiving Day preps are under way in New York City.

CNN's Harry Enten joins live with a preview along the parade route. I -- wait, what happened to the costume? He just has a regular coat on now. Look at that. We will talk to Harry in just a few moments.

We're -- you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. There's Minnie Mouse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:56]

ACOSTA: It is Thanksgiving eve, and preparations are under way in New York City for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

CNN's Harry Enten is live outside the parade route.

Harry, how are things looking out there? We -- I saw earlier on CNN you were wearing a turkey costume. I guess I'm just not -- I don't qualify for -- I'm not good enough for a turkey costume. What's the deal? What's happening? How are you?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: No, no, you absolutely qualify, but the bottom line is, parades get me so excited, so excited. I just get so hot, I just got to take my jacket and toss it aside.

ACOSTA: Oh, there we go. OK.

ENTEN: That's the bottom line here. There you go. You're getting me. Maybe I will dress down a little bit more later on.

Look, we're here. It's excitement city. At this particular point we got Minnie Mouse. Look, she's under the netting, but she will escape. She will escape by tomorrow morning. She is, of course, the tallest, the tallest giant balloon in the parade. There are 17 giant balloons. There are 22 floats.

I'm going to try and get a little bit closer to Minnie Mouse right... ACOSTA: Uh-oh.

ENTEN: The first year she's ever been in the parade. Mickey Mouse has been in the parade forever, but finally Minnie Mouse, women's rights, we're finally on our way, Jim.

Let me just also note this. I am a native New Yorker. I have never actually been here for the parade. I have come once for the prep.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ENTEN: But this is the first time that I'm actually going to be involved with it tomorrow.

Everyone should tune in. Our coverage starts at 8:00 a.m., and it's going to be really exciting, Jim Acosta.

ACOSTA: I know it's going to be very exciting. I'm looking forward to it.

And, Harry, we expect nothing less than a costume tomorrow morning. Please surprise us with something special. I know you will be all over it.

ENTEN: Yes.

ACOSTA: And I did see the Bills jacket a few moments ago. You did have that on, so that was very on brand for you.

All right, Harry, sounds good. All right, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

In the final minutes here, let's talk some turkey during this last segment. Serving the tasty centerpiece of any Thanksgiving feast can bring a slew of challenges, but in the immortal words of Mrs. Doubtfire, help is on the way.

Joining me now with some expert tips is Butterball Turkey Talk-Line expert Nicole Johnson.

Nicole, give us your best tips. Nicole, can you hear me? Uh-oh. Nicole Johnson? Uh-oh.

All right. I guess we have got a turkey of a connection here. We're going to take a quick break. We will be right back. I will try to get her on this other side. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:52]

ACOSTA: All right, our connection is fixed. It's all gravy from here.

Nicole Johnson is with me now from the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

Nicole, great to see you. Thank you for doing this. What kind of issues can you solve here? I mean, what do you hear from

folks in terms of their biggest turkey problems and what kind of answers do you have?

NICOLE JOHNSON, BUTTERBALL TURKEY TALK-LINE: (INAUDIBLE) question we can answer. You can reach us at 1-800-BUTTERBALL.

You can send us a text at 844-877-3456. You can also e-mail us. And we're on social media. But the number one question that we're getting right now is, I haven't started buying my turkey. People don't realize it takes 24 hours for every four pounds of turkey meat to thaw in the refrigerator.

So we tell them not to worry. They can opt for the cold water bath method, still safe, still acceptable. It's a half-hour per pound.

ACOSTA: And what's your favorite way to prepare a turkey?

JOHNSON: Oh, great question.

Well, Jim, I have been talking turkey here at Butterball Turkey Talk- Line for over 20 years. There's so many different ways that we can give advice. You can cook your turkey on the outdoor grill. You can use the electric countertop roaster, so many different ways.

But I like the tried-and-true method, which is simply roasting your turkey breast side up in the open pan method. It's simple. It's a 325 oven from start to finish.

Ideally, if you have a flat rack to place at the bottom of the pan, that helps to elevate the turkey up off the pan. But your best friend on Thanksgiving Day, Jim, is that meat thermometer. It's truly the only -- the safest way to check for doneness.

ACOSTA: Oh, yes.

JOHNSON: It's going to register 180 in the thigh and 170 in the breast for best eating quality.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And you have to have that baster, the little suction baster thing that my mom lets me use every year. It's the only thing she will let me use in the kitchen on Thanksgiving.

She makes the best turkey. I have to announce this to the entire country right now. My mom makes the best Thanksgiving turkey. So, she can offer some tips too.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: We will get you and my mom on the phone together, Nicole, next time we do this.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: But, Nicole Johnson, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks very much for joining me this morning.

I might have had a little cranberry sauce in my earpiece there. Did I hear Nicole correctly?