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Democratic Lawmakers Receive Bomb Threats On Thanksgiving; Trump & Mexico's President Trade Tariff Threats; CA Officials: Bird Flu Found In 2nd Batch Of Raw Milk. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 29, 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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[11:01:47]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Good morning. You were live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

All right. And new this morning, at least five Democratic members of Congress from Connecticut say they were targeted with bomb threats over Thanksgiving. CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us now. Zach, what are we hearing about these lawmakers and what are they saying about all of this?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Jim, the latest is Senator Chris Murphy, the fifth Democrat from Connecticut to say that he was targeted with a bomb threat on Thanksgiving while he was home celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with his family.

And look, his spokesperson, Murphy's spokesperson says that this, quote, appears to be part of a coordinated effort involving members of Congress, multiple members of Congress and public figures. Now, Murphy's spokesperson didn't point to anything specific that would indicate that these are all connected. But at the same time did note that several of several -- several other members of the Connecticut delegation experienced something similar on Thanksgiving morning. That includes four members of -- that -- that represent Connecticut in the House of Representatives.

That John -- people like Joe Courtney, Jim Himes, John Larson, Jahana Hayes, all of them describing how law enforcement notified them of a bomb threat, ultimately investigated and didn't find any evidence of an actual bomb. But it speaks to this disturbing trend that law enforcement officials have been taking note of, one that could be an attempt to disrupt government operations like the voting process we saw back on Election Day or to intimidate government officials, people as high up as potential cabinet candidates, which we did see a similar incident on Wednesday with Donald Trump's Cabinet candidates.

ACOSTA: Right. We saw those similar threats against Trump's picks just a couple of days ago. So this could be all connected. We just don't know at this point.

COHEN: It's -- we -- we know it's a truly -- ACOSTA: Yes.

COHEN: -- a bipartisan concern, though, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

COHEN: And several bold face names and names that had been in the news recently. That's something federal officials say is one of the indicators of these bomb threats or one of these consistent themes is it's usually people whose names had been out in the news recently, but it's people like John Radcliffe, who is Trump's pick to be the CIA director, people like Pete Hegseth, who is obviously Trump's pick to be the Defense Department secretary, people like Scott Turner, other Cabinet officials, Lee Zeldin, people who had been picked by Donald Trump and had been publicized as that pick shortly after that receiving bomb threats themselves. So again, both parties facing this very common problem, but it remains, we've seen how connected any of it really is.

ACOSTA: All right, a lot to investigate. We'll see how that plays out in the coming days. Zach Cohen, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

In the meantime, President-elect Donald Trump is already getting into it with Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, over their recent phone call. While they disagreed on what was said about migration, Sheinbaum said, quote, there will be no tariff war. Meantime, President Biden says relationships with Canada and Mexico are in a good place right now. And Trump, he says, doesn't want to begin to screw up those relationships with tariffs.

Joining me now, Democratic strategist, Julie Roginsky, and Tara Setmayer, co-founder of the Seneca Product -- Project. Happy holidays, ladies. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Tara, let me start with you first. What do you make of Trump getting into it with the -- the -- the president of Mexico? And what are your thoughts as to whether or not he's just bluffing and he's trying to get some sort of diplomatic leverage here? I mean, that's kind of the wish casting of the moment, I suppose. But what -- what are your thoughts?

[11:05:02]

TARA SETMAYER, FORMER DIRECTOR, GOP CONGRESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS: Well, this is what he does, right? He's a lot of bluster, except this time around, he's surrounded by people who are more lackeys than they are economic policy wonks here in -- in -- in respect to what's best for the United States.

Like before, he had people around him who actually would be like, maybe that's not a good idea to get into an argument with our biggest trade partner. I mean, Mexico is our number one trade partner at about 16 percent. And then Canada, what are we doing here? And but he did this when they renegotiated NAFTA, which ended up basically being almost the same as before, but he renamed it and marketed it in a way that made it look like he was doing something new.

What's happening with Mexico right now? I'm -- I'm glad to see that Mexico's new female president, which love that and I'm sure Donald Trump doesn't like having to deal with a tough woman. She's pushing back and saying not so fast because Mexico does have some economic leverage over us given the amount of economics -- economic reliability that both countries rely on each other.

And it's just smart economics for us to have that good relationship. So Trump is using -- used fear as currency to get a lot of people in this country to vote against their economic interests. And picking a fight like this with Mexico now is not smart. And I'm glad to see that -- that Mexico's president is standing up, going not so fast.

ACOSTA: Yes, Julie, I mean, one of the things that we should point out is that the new incoming treasury secretary, if he's confirmed, Scott Bessent, has essentially said in recent days he doesn't think Donald Trump is all that serious about all this -- this tariff talk. And then lo and behold, he makes these tariff threats against Mexico, Canada and -- and China. And, you know, it -- it does raise the question as to whether or not they're going to be able to talk him out of the launching a trade war as soon as he comes into office.

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, I think this is all, excuse me, because I have a bit of laryngitis. This is so much BS. I mean, I don't think Donald Trump has any intention whatsoever of levying any kind of tariffs on broad-based tariffs in Mexico or in Canada. He's going to take credit for all the border crossings that are already way down in the last year by 75 percent according to our own statistics.

He's going to say we solved the problem on day one by threatening to -- threatening to have these tariffs and I got everything I wanted, no more fentanyl coming into the country. No more undocumented immigrants coming into the country. I stood up to Mexico. I stood up to Canada. So we don't need tariffs. Because he knows full well that the minute he puts these tariffs into place, the economy is going to tank. And that's the last thing that he wants.

So this is the same kind of bluster. I'm -- I'm putting a marker down now before he comes into office, because that's exactly what's going to happen. He is going to go ahead and say that the problem was solved just by him being in office, just by him putting these threats out there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ROGINSKY: And we are going to go on with our lives and the economy is great. And he'll take credit for that as well.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll have to wait and see what happens there. And I do want to ask both of you about some video, if you haven't seen this video yet, of Elon Musk getting chummy with Donald Trump at Mar- a-Lago for Thanksgiving. They were apparently dancing in their chairs to YMCA. And, you know, there's Barron Trump next to the President- elect, but there's Elon Musk right next to him in his X sweater, I think, and a blazer.

But, you know, Tara, I mean, this does raise a lot of questions about what Elon Musk's role will be in this incoming administration. I mean, just this week he has been targeting federal employees on X. He has been going after people like Colonel Alexander Vindman, accusing him of treason the other day on X. And -- and he's being given this very big platform with the government, according to Donald Trump, he's going to be finding areas to cut in -- in the federal government. What do you make of this relationship right now?

SETMAYER: It's all really creepy. But money talks. And it's clear that -- that Elon Musk has a motive here. He sees by cozying up to Donald Trump, he's going to have influence in ways that he's never had before. Not just being by -- I mean, he's had a lot of influence being the -- the -- the richest man in the world. But this is a whole different thing. He's literally taking on the role of, you know, favorite son, first lady and shadow president. This is scary stuff for people.

And Elon Musk has no business having a security clearance. All of these government contracts and now this -- this level of influence with the president of the United States, it's all dysfunctional. These guys are going through this, like, group trauma therapy session with each other.

And the fact that Elon Musk is -- is the guest that won't leave and that Donald Trump continues to give him this role. It speaks volumes. Why wasn't Elon Musk with his own family? Where -- where is that? This is his new family now. This is his new project. Because he's so emotionally stunted that this is making him feel relevant.

[11:10:00]

And the fact that as a country and in the world, geopolitics are going to be influenced by this guy going through whatever psychosis of, you know, processing he's going through should scare the hell out of everybody because he's -- this is not just in the -- but they're influencing and trying to target people also in other countries. This is not just here in the U.S. with this intimidation factor. So the tentacles of this --

ACOSTA: Yes.

SETMAYER: -- are really, really long. We should keep paying attention to it. I'm glad that we are now.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Julie, I mean, nobody elected Elon Musk. Yes, he was out on the campaign trail campaigning with Donald Trump. But it does raise this question. And just as we saw X as sort of this propaganda arm of the Trump campaign as he was running for president, you know, during the -- the months leading up to the November election, I suppose there is the possibility, and we're seeing signs of that this week, that he's going to be sort of this cyber bully in chief as Donald Trump comes into office, you know, using his platform to go after critics, go after federal employees trying to intimidate people raises a lot of questions as to -- as to what that role is.

ROGINSKY: Well, here's a question that, yes, you know, I think journalists should ask of Elon Musk. Why is he talking to Vladimir Putin and then which he's conceded that he does, and then going after Vindman, of all people that he could have gone after, right? Vindman's not -- Vindman's brother, just got elected. But Vindman himself is not really in the news much these days. Why is he suddenly going after Vindman?

And the question is, I would hope to Elon Musk is, is that something that Vladimir Putin told you to do? Is there something going on with our foreign policy? Are you some sort of proxy between Putin and whoever you're trying to influence in our own administration? That relationship needs to be explored because as Tara mentioned --

ACOSTA: Yes.

ROGINSKY: -- he does have security clearances, he does have Starlink, and he does have access to somebody who I think is the most geopolitically dangerous man in the world, Vladimir Putin. And now he's going after Putin's own enemies. And I want to know why.

ACOSTA: Yes, we -- we don't know. And -- and we don't know if he'll be speaking in confirmation hearings.

SETMAYER: Really quick, Jim, on that.

ACOSTA: Yes, go ahead, Tara. Yes.

SETMAYER: Just really quick on that. To -- to Julie's point, about what's going on with Putin and Elon Musk, I have friends in the cybersecurity space that said that if you look at what's going online, that a lot of the bots and extremists rhetoric that you saw and misinformation X has now shifted away from the U.S. political election to trying to take out Ukraine. This is not by accident.

So for people in this -- in this space, they are sound -- sounding the alarms. And it's really the responsibility of journalists like you and others to zero in on what's going on there, because this is not a coincidence.

ACOSTA: Yes. There's going to be a lot of digging. I mean there a lot of questions. No question about it. And I do want to ask both of you, Julie, I mean, Elon Musk is not the only tech executive visiting Mar- a-Lago these days. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg had dinner there on Wednesday. What do you think that means? It -- it's -- it sounds as though a lot of these tech CEOs, Silicon Valley titans, feel like they need to go down to -- to Mar-a-Lago.

ROGINSKY: They're all bending the knee the same way that Jeff Bezos bent the knee even before the -- before the election with what he did at "The Washington Post." This is what you see when authoritarians come in. This is exactly speaking of Russia, what you saw in the 1990s and the early 2000s with oligarchs bending the knee to Vladimir Putin thinking they could control him.

Well, I've got news for them. They're not going to be able to, in any way, shape or form, the same way that the oligarchs in Moscow were not able to control Vladimir Putin. So if they want to continue to make money off of a guy that they think is a dope that they're going to be able to play, they probably will. They'll continue to be very rich. But by no means should we believe that they're in any way, shape or form going to be the ones dictating to him. And that starts with Elon Musk and ends -- ends with Mark Zuckerberg. He will dictate to them. That's how autocracy begins.

ACOSTA: And Tara, I mean it does raise a lot of questions, and -- and I'm -- I'm short on time. We've got to go. But -- but, you know, these -- these tech CEOs, they wield tremendous influence in our society. And if they somehow feel as though, you know, that -- I mean, are they going to show some independence from this new administration? I mean, that is -- that is certainly one of the questions that needs to be asked here. I mean, Elon Musk is certainly not doing that. He's -- he's all in on Donald Trump. But the question, I think has to be asked of some of these other tech CEOs, because of the influence that they have in our society.

SETMAYER: Of course they're not going to show independence. If they did, Jeff Bezos wouldn't have pressured "The Washington Post" not to endorse like we're seeing this. They are obeying in advance, which is rule number one again, you know, against tyranny here. Do not obey in advance. They are. Because they have their own interests here, and their interests have to do with money and their power and their influence.

They control a lot of the information flow as to how Americans consume information, from TikTok down to, you know, to Twitter to the -- the ecosystem that's there on the right, that is -- the -- all of these things influence how American voters perceive things and how they behave. So, of course, techno bro -- the tech -- the tech bros, the crypto bros, they all have their hands in this for their own goods.

[11:15:14]

And unfortunately, a lot of Americans voted against their own interests by empowering them. And those people don't give a damn about average Americans every day. They don't. And they're --

ACOSTA: Yes.

SETMAYER: -- we're about to find out what that looks like now with Donald Trump as their biggest puppet master, doing whatever they want because they know how to manipulate him not only domestically, but foreign -- foreign affairs too.

ROGINSKY: Can I just add one thing to what Tara said if you have 30 seconds?

ACOSTA: Sure. Yes.

ROGINSKY: Back in 20 -- back in 2016, Les Moonves, the now disgraced former head of "CBS," that's something that I think applies today. He said, this may not be good for America speaking about Donald Trump, but it's damn good for "CBS." They love this. They love the acrimony. That's what their algorithms survive on. They love the conflict. And nobody's going to give it to them more than Donald Trump. So it's great for business. It's awful for America as they know and concede. ACOSTA: Well, they have a lot of influence. They have a lot of responsibility here. We're going to keep our -- our eyes on this for sure. Julie and Tara, thanks a lot. Really appreciate it. Happy holidays.

ROGINSKY: You too.

SETMAYER: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. In the meantime, two major recalls for possibly contaminated milk and eggs. We'll talk about how this happened next.

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[11:20:59]

ACOSTA: This morning, winter weather alerts are in effect for more than 6 million people as an arctic winter blast barrels into much of the Northern and Central U.S. The National Weather Service is warning the Great Lakes area will be paralyzed by lake effect snow which could accumulate up to 5 feet. Allison Chinchar joins us now. Allison, I know they live in a cold part of the country, but it is only November, 5 feet of snow, oh my goodness.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And the temperatures are going to feel more like mid-January too.

ACOSTA: Yes. Wow.

CHINCHAR: So it's -- it's a little bit of a confusion on the seasons right now. Yes, we're already starting to see some of those lake effect bands begin right now. You can see portions of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York starting to see that transition, the cold air starting to filter back in over those very warm lakes.

And that's what happens. You get these really strong winds, typically 35 miles per hour or stronger. The Great Lakes right now have to be warm and at the moment they are at record levels. Then you've got the drop in temperatures and that's just starting to now slide into these areas. And that's what creates not just lake effect in general, but these very big lake effect bands.

Now a lot of these areas widespread, you're looking at 6 to 12 inches. But some of these very narrow corridors, especially off of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, could end up producing tremendously large amounts of snow. The weather service forecasting between 3 to 5 feet is possible in some of these areas. And again, that is very dangerous for road travel. And we've got a lot of people expecting to be on the roads this weekend.

Now talking about that cold air that's in place, look at some of these temperatures and the windchills that we're getting in the Northern Plains right now. Fargo, the current temperature, 1, but the feels like temperature that windchill, minus 15, minus 5 is what it feels like in Sioux Falls. But that cold air is not going to stay up north. It's going to start to spread east and south in the coming days. As far south, actually as the Gulf Coast, look at some of these areas under these freeze watches and warnings over the next few days, those temperatures are expected to get cold. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population is expected to have temperatures at or below freezing in the coming days. And for some, Jim, it's going to stay there a while. Chicago, looking at below average temperatures for the next week.

ACOSTA: Oh, my goodness. All right. And -- and you know how that wind whips off the lake there. Lake Michigan and Chicago, it's going to be frigid. All right, guys, bundle up. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Health officials in California, meanwhile, say a second batch of raw milk has tested positive for the bird flu virus. It's reportedly from the same farm as the first tainted batch in Fresno. CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard joins me now. Jacqueline, raw milk has become kind of popular, trendy for some folks, but my goodness, there are risks. You have to think about it.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right. There are risks that come with raw milk. And this recall is just one example of the concerns out there. So these recalls that have been announced this week have been connected to whole raw milk produced and packaged by the company Raw Farm, LLC, based in Fresno. The previous recall had a best buy date of November 27th. The latest recall has a best buy date of December 7th.

And this recall seems to be connected with the ongoing outbreak of bird flu among dairy cattle across the country. So far, there have been no illnesses reported with these recalls. But the overall outbreak that we've seen across the country has been connected with 55 human cases. Many of those cases have been among farmworkers who had kind of direct exposure to infected dairy cattle.

But this is an outbreak that health officials are continuing to watch. And it' that health officials are continuing to closely monitor and test in raw milk to detect whether there is bird flu virus in the raw milk itself, which is what we've seen with these two latest batches of raw milk being recalled.

And you know, Jim, it's interesting how unpasteurized milk is actually not prohibited for sale in some states. So this is a public health concern when it comes to the risks that come --

[11:25:07]

ACOSTA: Wow.

HOWARD: -- with consuming raw milk. Yes, you see here on the map, these are the states that allow sales either in retail stores or farm sales. But the gray states are the ones that prohibit the sale of raw milk because of these public health concerns, Jim.

ACOSTA: Very interesting. All right. Jacqueline Howard, very useful information. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Just as frigid temperatures sweep through Ukraine, Vladimir Putin issuing a threat to strike the region with a missile that has nuclear capabilities. A live report from Moscow is next.

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