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House Votes For Speaker As Johnson Fights To Keep Job; Surgeon General Calls For Cancer Warning Label On Alcohol; Biden To Visit New Orleans Monday In Wake Of Terror Attack. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- in Washington. And you are in the CNN Newsroom on this very busy day in Washington.

Right now, Speaker Mike Johnson is fighting to stay in power as the House is set to vote in just about an hour on whether he keeps his job. And really no one knows what's going to happen. At this moment, it's unclear if he has the votes, even with Donald Trump's endorsement.

Now, Johnson is adamant that he won't make deals with fellow Republicans to lock down votes. They hold one of the slimmest majorities ever. Just two nos could cost Johnson the gavel. And there's already one no with Congressman Massie and a handful of Republicans that are undecided. And one, as I noted, is a hell no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I am the one, hell no. You know, they say there's up to five or six who may be voting no. You can count on me to be a no. You can pull all my fingernails out. You can shove bamboo up in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And let's get straight to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Manu, Speaker Johnson was feeling very upbeat this morning about his chances. But do the votes match his optimism?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And no one knows, Pamela. In fact, the Speaker's team itself is uncertain about what will happen in this vote that will happen in the noon hour. Will he get the votes to become speaker of the House on the first ballot? Will it drag on for a number of days? Will it go on before just today as into a messy floor fight that will force the Speaker to do what he has resisted for the past couple of days, cut deals with some of those holdouts, some of those holdout members, some of the more conservative members of the House Republican Conference have demanded changes to how the place is being governed, commitments on how to deal with issues like federal spending, more sway in the legislative process. But Johnson has been adamant, saying that unlike his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who had to cut a number of deals in order to secure the speakership back in 2023 on 15 ballots, he said he is not going to do that this time. That is a message that he's conveyed privately and publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: My simple message to my colleagues is, make suggestions about process improvements. We're open to that at all times. But I don't make deals with anyone. There's no quid pro quo here. I don't do anything in exchange for a vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But Johnson has virtually no margin for error. Remember last year when Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia, tried to remove him from the speakership, there were 11 Republicans, including her, who voted to advance that measure. He can only afford to lose more than one Republican on the floor. He can only afford to lose one, I should say. More than one Republican could be enough to scuttle his efforts assuming all members who are voting vote for a speaker specific candidate.

And Thomas Massie, as you played there, Pamela, is a hard no. So what will those other people who are non-committal, what will they do when that critical vote happens at noon? Will they decide to side with the Speaker who is backed by Donald Trump, or will they decide to hold out and to try to extract some concessions from Johnson? All huge questions.

And the reason why, of course, is so significant, Pamela, that the House cannot act. The 119th Congress which convenes today, cannot actually begin legislating until they select a speaker of the House, which is typically why these contested races don't happen. Kevin McCarthy was the first in 100 years to go to multiple ballots. Will there be another one today? That's a big question that we'll learn in just about an hour. Pamela?

BROWN: Yes, this used to just be sort of a ceremonial thing. No longer is that the case clearly. And I just obtained this letter, Manu, from some conservatives. It's floating around the holdouts and it's basically a scorecard of Johnson detailing what they say are 26 and instances where their House Republicans failed in only four instances of successes. Tell us about who we know right now is still in the holdout category.

RAJU: Well, we know about 14 members or so just have simply not said how they'll vote. There's really a big focus on a couple at the moment. One, Chip Roy of Texas, he is someone who's a member of the House Freedom Caucus who has been on actually on the phone with Donald Trump himself over the past day as Trump has tried to lean on Republicans to get behind Mike Johnson, but others as well.

Victoria Spartz is someone who a Republican from Indiana. She has not said how she would vote. She has said that she is concerned about some of Johnson's way he has governed in the past. What Johnson has told these members is that he is promising things will be different under single party Republican rule.

But of course that will be so hard to manage in this rowdy Republican conference is narrowly divided Republican conference, not to mention a narrowly divided Republican Senate where they'll have to cut deals with Democrats on some key issues, including keeping the government open, which will have to do by March of this year. So a lot of big questions which is why some of those members, they want those commitments now because they know those must pass deadlines are coming in which the speaker will have to confront the fact that Democrats will have a say in the legislative process.

They want a larger say. But the Speaker at the moment is saying, trust me, we'll figure out a way to get this done. We'll see if that's enough to win him the job. Pamela?

BROWN: Yes, we shall see. Let's bring in Kristen Holmes. Kristen, you just spoke to President-elect Trump this morning. How is he feeling this morning about the vote?

[11:05:09]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, he said he's going to wait and see what happens, that he's watching it very closely. But he also expressed confidence in Johnson, saying that he would be successful. He heaped praise on Johnson over and over again during our brief phone interview, saying he was the right man for the job, that he could get the votes.

And I did specifically ask him not only just about his conversations with holdouts, but also specifically Chip Roy, because does seem a lot hinges on Roy right now. And he said that he had multiple conversations with him and that he thinks Chip Roy will do what's best for the country. Now, what exactly that means, and if Chip Roy and him align on that's obviously a big question.

But I did also ask, what about these conversations with holdouts? What are you telling them? He insisted he wasn't telling them anything, but he was talking about the fact that he had won, that it was a huge margin, he had won the popular vote, and that this should just be an extension of that, essentially that this would be a big, beautiful exclamation point on that.

But one thing was very clear in this conversation. He is currently all in for Johnson. Now, of course, we know Donald Trump could change at any time, but he not only believed he had the votes, but said that he wasn't eyeing anyone else for speaker and he wants to get this done. Now, separately, I had spoken to a number of his senior advisers who said that there was no appetite from Donald Trump to see what happened with McCarthy happen here, particularly given these multiple rounds and how close we are to the inauguration.

He did not want a situation in which all of the focus was on the chaos of the Republican Party. He wants a situation where all the focus is on him coming into Washington. So part of this is looking at the landscape, and that's what I'm told by these advisers, and really making the decision that Johnson was the only person of all of the members that they believe could get the votes. And that is why he is pushing so hard for Johnson right now.

BROWN: And it's interesting when you look at how differently Donald Trump is handling it this time with Johnson really trying to get ahead of the vote, whereas with McCarthy, he intervened, tried to intervene when the vote was the rounds were happening. Clearly, Donald Trump knows this is as much about Johnson as him, or even maybe more so as a referendum on him.

HOLMES: Of course. I mean, you know, one of the things that we have learned in the last several months or year, really, and Donald Trump has learned since 2022, when he endorsed a number of candidates who lost, is that Donald Trump doesn't want to back a loser. So if he is getting this far out on a limb for Johnson, he believes that he does have the votes or he can get the votes. And that's why he's doing so much to work the ground.

And as you said, what's really interesting here, he appears to have learned a lesson from what happened with McCarthy and how much time and oxygen this sucked out of any media narrative. So that is why he has really put down a marker here with these holdouts. He has called a number of them. We know.

Obviously, as we said, he's talked to Chip Roy multiple times. So how this plays out? He really wants to get ahead of this. And -- and I was told by him that he is going to be watching it very closely today as it unfolds.

BROWN: Not surprising on that front.

HOLMES: Yes.

BROWN: Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Well, the White House says that President Biden and the First Lady will go to New Orleans Monday to grieve with the families and community members affected by the devastating New Year's attack. Bourbon Street is back up and running two days after a 42-year-old army veteran plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of people, killing 14 and injuring dozens more.

I spoke with the CEO for Interfor International who says his firm identified potential security threats with the famous street's bollard system back in 2019. Bollards, if you don't know, are these sort of steel posts that can go up and down. A report called on those barriers to be improved to prevent a terrorist attack by vehicle.

Meanwhile, CNN has obtained this exclusive surveillance footage showing the driver just hours before the attack. CNN's Ryan Young is live in New Orleans. Ryan, what more can you tell us about this new video and the latest on the investigation?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Pamela, when you see that video of him loading that stuff into the back of the truck, you understand just what was going to happen a little later on. And I can tell you the carnage that was on the street. And as we talked to people who witnessed parts of this, it is just heartbreaking to hear.

We are actually above one of the areas where one of those coolers that had an I.D. placed inside of it was just below us. And of course this street was packed. And you got to imagine there were several people who came in contact with those coolers. It's lucky that nothing happened in terms of those exploding. Now we know the FBI and also bomb squads went down the street to make sure that there were no other devices left behind.

You can see this is a bustling area right now. When you talk about those ways to stop with the bollards, they're going to make some improvement to that. We were told that we're going to see heavy trucks. We're going to see more police officers. But as you can understand, this is going to be a long term investment in this famous street here. Take a listen to the chief talk about some of the improvements they're going to make and the things her officers did to stop this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: That more lives I know were spared and saved. It's not a takeaway at all from those who lost life. But our officers were the ones who stopped this terrorist. I'm so proud of them.

[11:10:14]

PERCY "MASTER P" MILLER, MUSIC MOGUL & NEW ORLEANS NATIVE: When my city hurt, I hurt. And this is a tragedy. This is evil, really. And I feel like God is going to turn this into good. They're not going to stop us. New Orleans is resilient and we stronger together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. You saw an entertainer come out here and he was talking basically about trying to get this entire community together to stand around this. We've heard from people who live here. They are desperate to make sure that people understand they can be safe here. They understand the livelihood of this entire community surround here. The Super Bowl is headed this way, obviously. The Super Bowl and the NFL security was around this area. They were talking to the city about the security plan moving forward. They feel comfortable with that.

Pam, I should note that yesterday more than a thousand officers from the feds, from the state and from local surgeons (sp?) area for the Sugar Bowl that went off without a hitch. The two officers who were shot when this happened, they were released from the hospital. We're told they're doing OK. We hope they get their names sometime in the near future. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Ryan Young, thanks so much for bringing us the latest there.

And still ahead for you on this very busy Friday morning here in Washington, we're just minutes away from the start of a new Congress and the first major test for President-elect Trump's influence in the House. CNN special coverage starts at noon Eastern Time. And we'll be right.

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[11:15:59]

BROWN: New this morning, the surgeon general is now calling for cancer warning labels on alcohol. His new advisory notes that it's one of the leading preventable causes of the disease. CNN's Meg Tirrell joins us now. So Meg, explain more about what this data, what it tells -- tell us prompting this warning.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, I mean the scientific evidence has really been moving in this direction for some time that alcohol consumption really at any level, less is better. And that kind of goes face of what we've been told for decades, maybe that, you know, drinking red wine, for example, can be good for our health.

Increasingly, we're hearing the opposite. And so in this new advisory today, the surgeon general lays out the evidence, essentially looking at hundreds of studies linking cancer and alcohol consumption and also looking at the biological mechanisms that underlay this. He points out that it is the alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable cancer in the U.S. after tobacco and obesity.

And as part of this, he's calling for updates to the warning labels that are on alcoholic beverages to note that cancer risk, the seven different types of cancer that he notes have a causal relationship with drinking alcohol are breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, throat and voice box. Altogether, on average, about 100,000 cases of cancer and about 20,000 deaths from cancer each year are linked to alcohol consumption.

If you look at breast cancer risk alone, for example, one in six cases, they say in this advisory is attributable to alcohol consumption. And a lot of this, Pamela, they say the biological mechanisms are because of the way alcohol breaks down in the body. They say that can damage DNA and that can lead to the uncontrollable cell growth that characterizes cancer. It can also lead to inflammation, they say. And so really the message here is less is better.

BROWN: So how likely is it that this will actually happen?

TIRRELL: Yes, so actually updating the labels on alcoholic beverages would require Congress to act, and it remains to be seen if they will. Of course there's likely to be industry push back to this. This is not something likely that alcohol companies would want to see happen. And -- and so we're going to have to see how the next Congress potentially addresses this. Interesting, the surgeon general really issuing this in the last few weeks before the new administration comes in.

[11:18:20]

BROWN: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Returning now to the investigation in New Orleans. The FBI released new pictures of the attacker right here on your screen, 42- year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar walking around the French Quarter hours before he turned a pickup truck into a deadly weapon early Wednesday on Bourbon Street.

The historic area is now back open. Fourteen yellow roses have been placed along the street to honor the victims. Joining us now is Congressman Troy Carter. He represents New Orleans and serves on the Homeland Security Committee. Thank you for coming on, Congressman. President Biden will visit New Orleans on Monday. What do you want to see and hear from him?

REP. TROY CARTER (D-LA): I think we want to continue to hear what we've heard from the president, and that is he's offering the full support of our federal government to push back against terrorism, to ensure the people of New Orleans, as well as those that visit, that we're safe and that the resources of the federal government, state and local, will join forces to push back against terrorism to ensure that people, rather, it's the Super Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Mardi Gras, or any other event, that our American cities will be safe from these kind of threats. And we will do everything in our power to learn from each breach, to make us stronger going forward.

BROWN: The New Orleans City Council says it will investigate the lack of permanent barriers on Bourbon Street on New Year's Day. That's after we obtained this 2019 security assessment, and it showed that the famed street was particularly vulnerable. I spoke to the CEO of the company that did this report, and he said that in the report, he made clear that the street was vulnerable to a terrorist attack by vehicle. Do you think there needs to be a federal level investigation here?

CARTER: You know, I think there needs to be. I don't think we should all jump to -- to judgment. I think the city and the -- the mayor and the governor have made it very clear that they will do everything in their power to utilize the resources to shore up the French Quarter, to look at the 2019 study and to make sure those recommendations are adhered to. But then to also do a deeper dive, if you will, of an evaluation of every entry point into the quarter to ensure that the best practices and best -- best technologies are employed.

[11:25:09]

And rather that is with federal intervention, local or state, it doesn't matter. This is an all hands on deck situation. And I'm confident with the President's involvement and his commitment and the commitment from the governor and the mayor that we will get there.

BROWN: So how are the police officers doing who were in the hospital after being in a shootout with the attacker and the other victims still in the hospital? I just want to make sure we don't forget about them right now.

CARTER: Yes. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims who lost their lives and their families. To the remaining citizens who are in the hospital still recovering, our prayers and thoughts are with them. And a huge thank you to the two brave police officers who put their lives on the line in the -- in the line of duty. They both are recovering well, thank God.

And we want them to know, and their families to know how much we appreciate the efforts that local law enforcement and the state and federal and all our surrounding sheriffs who stepped up and demonstrated the oneness that New Orleans is known for.

BROWN: You're on the Homeland Security Committee. The DHS says there is no connection between the cybertruck explosion in Vegas and the attack in New Orleans. What questions do you still have that are outstanding right now?

CARTER: Well, we still want to know, to determine, was this, how long had this been planned? Did he case the space out? Was this something that he'd already identified as an entry point on Canal Street because it was, in fact, wide enough for a car to -- to -- to get through?

The next hundred block -- the next block of Bourbon and Iberville and the subsequent cor -- corners in the French Quarter would be far too narrow for a car to get through. So the only place that they could have gained access on the sidewalk would have been at Canal Street. Which lends me to wonder, how long had this plot been -- been being hatched, had he cased the area to determine that this was a weak point? You know, in the -- in the coming days, weeks and months, we'll be able to answer those questions but even faster than that will be sealing any possibility for a breach going forward.

BROWN: I want to just ask you, before we let you go, what your take is on the upcoming speaker vote that's about to happen. The -- the new Congress convenes at -- at noon today, Eastern Time.

CARTER: It's going to be close, I understand. I understand that Congressman Massie and Chip Roy of the Republican Conference have indicated that they do not intend to vote for Speaker Johnson. Who knows? We've seen this play out before with 15 votes to try to get to a yes. I will tell you without fear of contradiction that my vote will be cast for Hakeem Jeffries to be our next speaker.

BROWN: All right, Congressman Troy Carter, thank you so much.

And in a matter of minutes, the top Republican in the House, as I noted, will find out just how hard he'll have to fight to keep his job. Next, we're talking with one of the lawmakers who's backing Speaker Mike Johnson. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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