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Carter Family Accompanies Casket to D.C. for Funeral; Musk Sparking Outrage Among European Leaders; McDonald's to Sunset Some Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rules. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 07, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just minutes from now, Former President Jimmy Carter will begin his final journey to Washington and Georgia mourners have paid their respects filing past his casket at the Presidential Library for Jimmy Carter in Atlanta.

At the top of the hour, the departure ceremony gets underway at the Carter Center. His family will accompany the 39th president to Washington where he will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda before his national funeral service on Thursday. Let's take a closer look at Jimmy Carter's life and legacy. Presidential historian Tim Naftali joins us now along with Kate Andersen Brower. She's a journalist and the author of several books including "Team of Five: The President's Club and the Age of Trump" and "The Residents: Inside the Private World of the White House." Thank you both for joining us.

Kate, you had the opportunity to interview both the former president and the former first lady in their home. That must have been a treat. What was that like?

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, "THE RESIDENCE": Well, you know, it was incredible. I went down to Plains in 2018 and interviewed them. I got to go listen to one of his Sunday sermons, his Sunday school services. And they were -- I was struck how absolutely normal they were. I mean, they -- a lot of people have said it, but it's absolutely true, they lived in this very, you know, relatively modest home, a ranch house that they had built together in the '60s.

And, you know, I sat with them in their living room. They sat next to each other on the sofa and offered me water that they gave me themselves. And I think I was just struck by how close they were in that moment. You know, they would turn to each other. President Carter would ask Mrs. Carter, Rosalynn, what she thought when I asked a question. I think he was really interested in me talking to her because I had written about first ladies before. And he felt like she hadn't been given enough credit for all the work she did on mental health. And so, they kind of propped each other up during the interview.

ACOSTA: And, Tim, I mean, a lot of Americans out there remember Jimmy Carter because of his post-presidency, his life after leaving the White House. He didn't -- you know, he lost to Ronald Reagan. He didn't cry sour grapes and so on. He built this tremendous life where he built homes for people and so on. I think that is just going to be a massive part of his legacy.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS: It will be. But one thing is that today and on Thursday, we're going to be reminded about the various phases of his national and public service. His public service began before he ran for office in Georgia. It began when he joined the Navy as a midshipman. And his public service, of course, continued after he left the White House. His complex full life will be on display to be understood and to be celebrated this week.

And so, we will be talking about his post-presidency. Indeed, President Carter wanted people to talk about his post-presidency, but we will also be returning to the time before he came to the White House. And we will see as we discuss this and think about it over the next few days, the richness of this man's life and what he did for this country.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Kate, I mean, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were both just a national treasurer. It was almost a package deal with the two of them. Was this a couple that was genuinely driven by the need to help people? And what kind of example does that set?

BROWER: Oh, absolutely. Yes. I mean, when I asked them what their greatest achievement was, Rosalynn said it was nearly eradicating Guinea worm disease. You know, there used to be thousands of cases. Now, there are less than two dozen. And this is a horrific disease.

And so, their work with the Carter Center was the single most important thing. But as Tim said, you know, Jimmy Carter's was asked, you know, he said, if I had to choose four more years in the White House and the Carter Center, I would choose the Carter Center, but it could have been both. You know, he resented being a one term president. He thought he had much more work to do. And of course, Ronald Reagan came in and undid a lot of the work the Carters had done in the White House.

ACOSTA: But, Tim, I mean, the Carter presidency -- and I was watching a documentary on Jimmy Carter during the holidays, that's how much of a nerd I am. But PBS did a marvelous job on the Carter presidency, and it documented a lot of the failures of his administration and a lot of the challenges he was dealing with in the aftermath of Watergate and the Ford pardon and so on. It was that kind of time in the '70s.

[10:35:00]

But I mean, we're just showing these images right now, the Middle East peace process. There were some successes there that obviously will stand the test of time.

NAFTALI: Jim, this is the key thing about presidencies, they center on a human being and every human being is flawed. So, presidencies have high points and low points. And for that reason, to be complete and full as a historian, as someone looking back on a presidency, one needs to keep in mind the peaks and the valleys. So, yes, there was inflation, though not really of President Carter's creation. Yes, there was the failure of the hostage rescue mission. But there was also courage in deciding to go ahead with it. And yes, there was the weakness of President Carter in his inability to build bridges to Congress.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAFTALI: On the other hand, the Carter administration had enormous legislative successes. So, in understanding a presidency, just in understanding a president, we have to keep in mind the valleys and the peaks. Jimmy Carter's four years are rich with experience, they're rich with failure, they're also rich with achievement. So, there's much to discuss and much to reflect on as we see President Carter go to his deserved rest.

ACOSTA: All right. And it was a long life, a remarkable life. Kate and Tim, thank you very much, we appreciate it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a great inspiration, and I'm sorry we don't have him in the world. I come from a faith background that he had. And a lot of people wear their religion on their sleeve and so that they can put others down and be proud of themselves, and he wasn't that way. He took his religion for what it actually said and what he should actually do. And it's a good time in our country for us to remember somebody like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: New this morning, Elon Musk is sparking outrage among European leaders for promoting far-right parties and spreading misinformation on his platform X. British, French, German, and Norwegian leaders are all speaking out against his political influence. This is also raising concerns about the world's richest person's potential impact on U.S. foreign policy, given his relationship with the president-elect.

CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter joins us now. Brian, we've come a long way from those days when Elon Musk, you know, took over Twitter and said, I'm going to make this a free speech marketplace. We're going to be completely neutral and so on. That's just completely out the window. But let's talk about some of these headlines we've been seeing where you have foreign leaders raising questions about the influence that he has.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, and it's because Musk has been raising attention about sexual abuse of children in the United Kingdom dating back decades. Some of these stories actually go back about 20 years. Musk has been bringing them up on X over and over again. In some cases, acting as if he's just discovered some of these stories. They are horrible stories.

But oftentimes it seems like Musk is coming in like a brand-new college freshman, brand-new to a subject, as if he's found out about it for the first time. And because his voice is so loud on X, he causes a lot of reactions. That's what these European leaders are reacting to.

Musk also is announcing algorithm changes to X. He wants more positive content and less negative content, even as he posts about gangs and about rape and other very negative subjects. It is notable that just as Trump is about to take office, Musk says he wants more positivity, Jim, and less negativity. Isn't that interesting timing?

ACOSTA: Very interesting timing. And I have to read this exchange, and I want to caution our viewers, you know, what they're going to hear is slightly disturbing -- disturbing, I shouldn't say slightly disturbing between Musk and an X user who criticized him with this on screen. Elon Musk is -- this is the user saying, Elon Musk is rapidly becoming the largest spreader of disinformation in human history, hijacking political debates in the process. The U.S. -- E.U. I should say must take action. And Musk responds, F-U. And then, in our word, which -- I mean, I guess you could look through the way we've pixelated that. It's a derogatory term for people with mental disabilities, mentally challenged people. What is happening here? And why is he doing that?

STELTER: Yes, he's attacking the user. It gets to this broader sense that when people like Zucker -- Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg talk about free speech, everybody wants free speech, but it oftentimes seems that these tech CEOs actually are favoring or preferring a certain kind of speech, right? They're favoring their own speech or their own political preferences and not the actual entire user or the community's speech.

You know, the changes announced by Meta today are very much a MAGA makeover, a pro-Trump makeover, and that's going to win Meta some conservative users, but it may repel some liberals. That's the same thing we've seen happen on Elon Musk's X. He's turned into more of a right-wing platform where he's pro free speech when it's really pro- Musk or pro-Trump speech.

ACOSTA: All right. Brian Stelter, thanks as always. And you mentioned those changes over at Meta, that is going to be fascinating to watch moving forward because obviously Facebook and Instagram, places like that, have also been accused of being super spreaders of disinformation, misinformation. We'll keep our eyes on that. Brian, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

[10:45:00]

Still ahead this hour, McDonald's becoming the latest big company to begin sunsetting some diversity initiatives. We'll talk about what that means next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ACOSTA: New this morning, McDonald's says it will back away from some diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. It's become the latest company to do so. The fast-food chain says it will still support inclusion, but that it is sunsetting specific goals like making suppliers commit to certain diversity targets.

Axios business writer Nathan Bomey joins us now. He is also the co- author of its Closer newsletter. Nathan, walk us through what's happening at McDonald's. Are they getting rid of these DEI policies altogether? What can you tell us?

NATHAN BOMEY, BUSINESS REPORTER, AXIOS AND CO-AUTHOR, AXIOS, "CLOSER" NEWSLETTER: Not altogether, but this is clearly -- you know, they're clearly scaling back. They're having a little bit of weak knees with regard to the commitment to DEI as a name, I think DEI as a word.

[10:50:00]

It's something that corporate America is getting really concerned about. Some companies scaling back their initiatives while, you know, just not talking about it as much. And I think, you know, for McDonald's, they're feeling the pressure. Robby Starbuck, a conservative activist, who's really been putting pressure on companies of all stripes to start scaling these things back.

ACOSTA: And, Nathan, the fast-food giant McDonald's is not the only one we're talking about here. Walmart, Ford, Harley Davidson, John Deere, among the big names, rolling back DEI goals, programs after the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision. Should we expect to see more companies following suit, especially with Trump coming into office?

BOMEY: Yes, I wouldn't be surprised at all if you start to see more companies doing this, because, you know, the flavor of the day maybe is fading. And I think, you know, that does call into question whether some of these companies were truly committed to these things or not. I think a lot of this started after George Floyd and then accelerated, you know, maybe over the course of the Biden administration, but the administration has changed now.

Companies don't like being in the spotlight under criticism. You know, they know what happened with Bud Light, the big, you know, controversy that happened there with Bud Light sponsored, a transgender influencer, and that blew up led to a huge boycott of Bud Light products. So, I think companies are trying to avoid that sort of thing happening again.

ACOSTA: And, Nathan, are these companies essentially buckling to pressure on social media, people posting nasty tweets and so on? I mean, is that basically it?

BOMEY: In some ways, they're actually trying to get ahead of the pressure, you know, because Robby Starbuck has been threatening to launch these sort of social media campaigns. And the threat alone has been enough to stop a lot of these companies from, you know, continuing with their DEI campaigns. And so, you know, there's not really a groundswell necessarily, but a lot of them, I think, see safety in numbers as more companies pull out, then more companies pull out.

ACOSTA: All right. Nathan Bomey, thank you very much. We'll continue to follow that story. In the meantime, we want to show you some live pictures coming out of Atlanta right now as preparations are being made to transfer Jimmy Carter up to Washington, D.C. for his final trip to the nation's capital as America remembers the late president. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

ACOSTA: Thank you all for joining me this morning. And I want to bring in my good friend Pamela Brown. Pamela, as we've been discussing, there was a big snowstorm that hit D.C. this week. And I was out in the snow with my little dog Duke. You were out in the snow with your little dog Bingo. It was fun.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: It was fun. Bingo I think had the most fun of the whole family. Oh, look at sweet Duke.

ACOSTA: That's a little Duke.

BROWN: Bingo -- oh, well, there's my son, Henry, not enjoying the snow so much. Not a big fan, as you could see. But Bingo -- this was Henry's first time in the snow, by the way. Bingo, my dog, was like bopping around having just the time of his life. You can see him out there with my other son in the backyard just loving life.

You know, I got to say some people don't like the snow, Jim. I love it.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BROWN: I'm kind of like my kids, like it brings back those memories of growing up and having snow days, you know, and I love getting cozy and being by the fire and having hot chocolate. Like, I love everything about the snow except for getting into work.

ACOSTA: No, there's no question about that. But we had like seven or eight inches of snow in D.C. We haven't had snow like that in several years. And you're right, people do complain about it and getting around and so on. But I love the way -- and we can show that picture of Duke again, I love the way that the snow shuts down the nation's capital.

It does not happen very often. It does show you that there are greater powers than those in the halls of Congress or whatever at the White House. The way that the snow can shut everything down. And Duke just had the biggest case of the zoomies last night. He's come down to the Washington Monument and he just had a blast.

BROWN: Oh, yes. So, did Bingo. We should get Duke and Bingo together in the snow, right?

ACOSTA: Dog date. Absolutely.

BROWN: Dog date. That's right. But you're right. You know, Mother Nature is in charge. She reminds us of that when this stuff happens.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

BROWN: And I love it. And we have another snow storm this weekend, apparently. So, gear up, Duke and Bingo. We'll get the dogs together to play. For sure. Maybe --

ACOSTA: Yes, he was resistant. I had to pull on that leash a little bit to get him out the door yesterday, but as soon as he got in it, he went wild. He went crazy.

BROWN: He was all about it.

ACOSTA: You're absolutely right. There's another big storm coming. We're going to have to brace ourselves for that too. But, anyway, I'll let you get to it.

BROWN: Yes, we'll be OK. All right.

ACOSTA: But it will be OK. That's right. With Duke and Bingo.

BROWN: We're going to survive one way or another, with Duke and bingo doing the zoomies, it will be just fine. All right. Jim, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Yes. Good to see you.

BROWN: And we are following two major live events this hour. Any moment from now, President-Elect Donald Trump will hold a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort one day after Congress certified his November election win. We will bring it to you live.

And happening right now, Former President Jimmy Carter about to make his final return to Washington. You are looking at live pictures of the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. His family will accompany his casket to D.C. where he will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda before his national funeral service on Thursday.

Hello, everyone. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. And you're in the CNN Newsroom.

At any moment now, we're expecting to hear from --

[11:00:00]